Took some design risks on a triplex rehab that paid off

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I've been rehabbing and renting out single family homes for the last few years but just ventured into my first multi-family. I’ll admit up front that I’m a design junkie and I’m motivated by the challenge of creating something unique, with high appeal, at low cost. I bought a triplex in a trendy neighborhood and had a theory that spending a bit more on finishes and mixing in a few low-cost designer features could draw a higher rental rate, better tenants and less vacancy. The building I bought has an exact duplicate next door which another investor bought two months before I bought mine and they had just finished a builder-grade rehab on all the units and listed them for rent so I had a perfect example to compare mine to. The neighborhood is very trendy and I really wanted to go for an edgy, industrial design but I was pretty nervous about whether I was making a mistake and would just end up narrowing my rental pool by being too style-specific. Well, I went for it anyway and here’s how it turned out…

The freshly rehabbed units next door were renting for 1,500 a month. Similar sized units in brand new buildings nearby were going for 2,300 but they had in-unit laundry, modern finishes and better amenities. I was targeting somewhere in-between for mine. I wanted the modern finishes of the bigger buildings but character you couldn’t find in most apartments so I would stand out. I spent roughly 15K to rehab the first unit, adding in-unit laundry, new paint, flooring, doors, trim, lighting, kitchens and baths. I had to put in new electrical panels and runs for the washer/dryer which was the biggest expense at $2,500 per unit. I estimate the building next door spent 7-10K per unit. I listed it for rent in early December but since it was so close to Xmas I was worried that there may not be many renters, so I listed on the conservative end of my target at 1,800. I was contacted by a lot of qualified renters within the first week of listing the property and got the first unit rented right away. On top of that, I didn’t even have the second or third units listed but had renters who wanted them and were willing to pay 2,000 and wait 2 and 4 months respectively to get them. They were TRASHED when the future tenants looked at them. They had smoke stains on the walls, burned old blue carpets, pink bathtubs and garbage everywhere but they just trusted that I’d make the old units look like the one I had just finished. The future tenants really liked the unique finishes like the pallet wood and coffee-sack walls, sliding barn door and a chalkboard wall. They all stated that there simply wasn’t anything like this available anywhere and they were willing to wait to get it. Most of these unique items together took about 2 days of time and $200 to create. All told, I estimate the added costs of this rehab over a basic rehab will take ~ 1.5 years to pay for itself but I believe that the additional rent, higher demand and quality of tenant I can get is worth it. Here are some before/after pics of what I did (I forgot to take before pics of the finished unit so including before pics of the mirror-image second unit I'm working on now):

(took out a wall to make it appear larger, enlarged the kitchen to add dishwasher, chalkboard wall, built-in counter-height table and put a sliding barn door on closet)

(added pallet wood accent wall, aluminum backsplash, built-in wine rack, deep sink with industrial faucet and stainless doors on upper cupboards)

(replaced tub with large stand-up tiled shower and shower head with body jets)

(added a pallet wood accent wall to the larger bedroom)

(added a coffee sack accent wall to the smaller bedroom)