First Rental Renovation - What to do?

Question

Hi everyone,

Looking for some help.

So I recently bought a 4 family property with two houses (one single family and a 3 family) in Woonsocket, RI. I'm going to be living in one unit of the 3 family so I am trying to decide what renovations I would like to do to my unit. Eventually I want to rent out the unit that I'm living in so I want to make sure that I don't over improve for the area which is a lower income area.

Take a look at the virtual tour and tell me what you think.

Google Virtual Tour

I'm also a very handy guy and have some construction experience. So a lot of basic renovation tasks I can tackle alone.

I'm thinking to start

1. Remove all of the wood paneling (its nailed on) and repair plaster walls if needed, then paint

I removed on panel to see what was underneath and it dosen't look too bad here anyway

2. Replace all of the Tan flooring, it's worn through in places and in rough shape

3. Get new cabinet doors and hardware, refinish the cabinets

These are just three things but what do you guys think in general?

Chris Leger · Answer

Thanks for all the help guys. I was actually looking at some other rental properties in the area and it's all across the board to be honest. I'd gauge my rental as medium-low as far as how it looks when looking at other rentals in town and my rent roll is a bit low compared to the market. Also, on my street there are much larger multi families like 10 unit complexes. My place is definitely one of the smaller complexes which is a plus for the tenants so I feel like some improvements might really make the place shine.

@Anthony Thompson I actually think that chimney is pretty ugly too. I was thinking of at least painting it or even potentially covering it with drywall but I would need to consult with an expert on how exactly I will do this. Not sure if furring strips and masonry nails is the way to go.

About the floors I was planning to go with a luxury vinyl plank because I know how easy they are to install and they are cost effective too. I wonder if there is old hardwood under the current flooring that could be refinished. I don't have experience with installing hardwood floors but wouldn't you be worried about tenants scratching them, especially since hardwood can be expensive.

Removing the wood paneling will get a little interesting at a few points because I know I will have a couple of issues:

1. A tree hit the outside of the house a long time ago and caused a wall to bulge in a bit in one of the bedrooms. I'm pretty sure it happened after the wood paneling was in so I think the wall will be all cracked behind there. Might not be a bad idea to actually repair the wall although I did have a contractor look at it and he wasn't too concerned about it being structurally sound.

2. A parlor was converted to a bedroom by making the entrance smaller and adding a door so I'm not sure what I will find behind that paneling, its probably not plaster and lath so I'll need to make the drywall portion blend seamlessly with the rest of the plaster wall.

Tanyal Bricthorn · Answer

I agree with Anthony. We try to overimprove, but only slightly. It's important that the place doesn't look tired and dated so you can charge a few dollars more and attract a better quality tenant. And if you can do most of the work yourself the labor savings will cover the materials. I typically replace all light fixtures with modern looking lower-end LED units ($8-$10 each), pach and retexture all drywall flaws, replacing any tired flooring, paint everything, and fix (or remove) anything that's broken. You just don't want anything that looks weird or out of place.

Anthony Thompson · Answer

I agree with Johnny - to a point - in that it's good to have an idea of what your competition will be.

However in general, if you have the time, money and inclination I think there's usually virtue in improving your property relative to the competition. You'll find it's faster and easier to rent and you have a better pick of tenants who apply.

Obviously that only goes so far, you don't want to "over improve" and spend money on things that you like but tenants won't appreciate or that aren't appropriate for the area.

But I do like the idea of spending a little money to be better than the competition in ways that matter to your customers (tenants) so you stand out from the crowd and are in a better negotiating position with those customers.

Anthony Thompson · Answer

@Chris Leger congratulations on your purchase! I think your list is a great place to start and everything you listed sounds decent.

I would say, for the wood paneling, make sure there's actually a good surface below it before you start on that. You'd be amazed, but sometimes there's not actually drywall or plaster beneath. But yeah, I think it definitely helps to do that (get rid of the paneling).

From the picture you included, it does look like there's a solid surface there. It wasn't clear if there's old wallpaper, if so that's going to be a pain to remove. It's worth it, but it's usually not easy and time consuming. At least it's a unit you can live in while doing it a little at a time though.

If you run short on money you could try using drywall mud to fill in the gaps/grooves in the paneling and then painting over it all. It's still not as nice as actual drywall and paint but it looks better than paneling and is an improvement.

Cabinets are another good area but be careful to do the math on the finishes as a minor difference in price can add up once you multiply it out. Just know what you're in for before you go up to the cash register :) Like getting rid of paneling, this is an easy and good improvement.

It was hard to get a sense of the flooring from the video but if you think it needs improvement then I'm sure it does. You didn't say what you're going to replace it with. It's more expensive up front, but if you can afford hardwoods I'd recommend it over carpet. Tenants prefer it over carpet and it's more durable. If you can afford a few area rugs for high traffic areas to protect the hardwoods then that will help them last even longer.

Other than that, at first glance from the video I'd say it looks like a decent rental unit. You might consider painting the brick on the fireplace in the living room (scene 3: kitchen) white but I'd ask around for opinions on that. To me it stands out as ugly in an otherwise nice white and clean unit, but I could be wrong about that.

I couldn't see the bathroom vanity but I could see the mirror and I'd probably want to replace that with a medicine cabinet/mirror, and chances are good you'll want to replace the vanity with something a little better at the same time. Depending on your inclination and budget you may also want to replace the toilet with a nicer and lower water usage toilet.

Hope this helps and congratulations again on your purchase!

First Rental Renovation - What to do?

Most Popular Reply