Develop property into high quality and low maintenance rental

[Joseph McLain]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence other investment in Lompoc.

Complete interior gut-and-rebuild. Stripped everything out of an aging house and refreshed it all. Hand textured walls and ceilings, new kitchen and bathrooms, new windows and sliding door, tiled floors, painted interior and exterior, replaced water heater, and more. Made the house far more attractive to high quality renters and dramatically increased the reliability and reduced maintenance costs of the property.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Opportunity to develop a property as rental income

How did you add value to the deal?

Ensured that all work was top quality rather than lowest price. Researched and installed best quality / value fixtures to improve the overall quality of the property and make it more appealing to renters who were willing to pay higher prices for a better living experience.

What was the outcome?

Current rental income is $200/month higher than expected and renters are doing a very good job of maintaining the quality of the property.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

It's important to have a detailed estimate of expenses and ready access to funds. With these in place, it's important to make it a priority to have a workable plan and to power through quickly to maintain progress and put the property on the market. Finding the right renter was best aided by working with a local property manager who charged a nominal fee to place the right person and who allowed us to do our own actual property management.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

The Hinkens Group did a good job of finding the right renters for the property