Please advise on how to save $2,000

[Tarun Kapoor]

Hi everyone,

We closed on our first four-plex on 4/15. And needless to say, we are nervous !!!

1 tenant has left and the other 3 are leaving in the next 1-2 months. The building is 100 years old, is structurally good, but needs some loving from inside. The area is full of old houses and new buildings so the rents vary quite a bit ($1/sq ft to $2.5/sq feet). Timing wise, i want to take care of things now than in the future...I want to fix up the place and be able to increase the rent by $100/unit..

This is how the place looks like
http://habitatgroupmn.com/pre.html

And this is how i want it to be
http://habitatgroupmn.com/post.html

List of things i need to take care of and the quote of material and labor that i am getting is http://habitatgroupmn.com/quote.html

I am good at tiling and painting. A couple of my friends are really good and tiling so i can ask their help. My budget per unit is $5,000. We would really appreciate the advise from the Masters of Rehabs that we are lucky to have on this forum on how we can get all this done in $5,000. We would not like to eliminate tasks but want cheaper alternatives or do them ourselves (something that we can do for all 4 units. that way we keep getting better at it and faster..)

Thanks so much in advance.

[Bryan H.]

Another thing to consider - rehab time.

First off you are looking to spend $5000 to make $1200/year - 4 years to break even.

Add one months current rent to your budget to make an extra $1200? How many years will you need until you break even?

Now consider saving yourself the headache, clean it well, fix what needs to be repaired and rent it right away.