Questions: Luxury vinyl and kitchen upgrade

[Li Kia]

hi All, I would love some input. My tenant will move out in 2 weeks. I am thinking about  replacing the floor for the common areas, bedrooms, bathrooms and private hallways for my rental in a nice neighborhood. The floor guy suggested me using luxury vinyl (I think also called SPC) for all these areas. Is it ok to have vinyl planks in bathrooms?  
The entry hallway (left to living room, straight to kitchen, right to private hallway leading to bedrooms and bathrooms) has tiles - same tiles as the ones in the  kitchen.  he suggested to leave it since it is a high traffic area. Should I replace tiles with the luxury vinyl to look nicer (extra $1k to remove the tiles for such a small area, and vinyl would not be durable) or leave the tiles?

My kitchen is in pretty good condition, but has telecom ter top. Should I replace the cabinets and install slabs? I was told my unit was dated. Is it worth it to upgrade it? Expensive to remodel a kitchen! 

[Joe Homs]

@Li Kia what's wrong with everything there now?  Are you able to get substantially more rent with these upgrades?  If you can recoup your upgrade costs within a year, go for it.  If not I would pass and rent it as is (if in good rentable condition.)

I only go into a full rehab when I am ready to sell the home.  It sells much quicker and for a higher value.

Good Investing..

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Li Kia:

hi All, I would love some input. My tenant will move out in 2 weeks. I am thinking about  replacing the floor for the common areas, bedrooms, bathrooms and private hallways for my rental in a nice neighborhood. The floor guy suggested me using luxury vinyl (I think also called SPC) for all these areas. Is it ok to have vinyl planks in bathrooms?  
The entry hallway (left to living room, straight to kitchen, right to private hallway leading to bedrooms and bathrooms) has tiles - same tiles as the ones in the  kitchen.  he suggested to leave it since it is a high traffic area. Should I replace tiles with the luxury vinyl to look nicer (extra $1k to remove the tiles for such a small area, and vinyl would not be durable) or leave the tiles?

My kitchen is in pretty good condition, but has telecom ter top. Should I replace the cabinets and install slabs? I was told my unit was dated. Is it worth it to upgrade it? Expensive to remodel a kitchen! 

LVP flooring is not waterproof or even very water resistant just so you know. If water does get into the seams and underneath it it is a big PITA.
I would definitely leave the tile where you have it, because it is much more durable. I would also leave the cabinets and counters as they are unless is a higher rent area, then you could go with quartz countertops and paint the cabinets to maximize your rent. Just my two cents...

[Li Kia]

Quote from @Joe Homs:

@Li Kia what's wrong with everything there now?  Are you able to get substantially more rent with these upgrades?  If you can recoup your upgrade costs within a year, go for it.  If not I would pass and rent it as is (if in good rentable condition.)

I only go into a full rehab when I am ready to sell the home.  It sells much quicker and for a higher value.

Good Investing..

[Li Kia]

Quote from @Li Kia:

Quote from @Joe Homs:

@Li Kia what's wrong with everything there now?  Are you able to get substantially more rent with these upgrades?  If you can recoup your upgrade costs within a year, go for it.  If not I would pass and rent it as is (if in good rentable condition.)

I only go into a full rehab when I am ready to sell the home.  It sells much quicker and for a higher value.

Good Investing..

 The issues currently: 1. Carpet are through out living and dinning combo great room and two bedrooms. There are a few stains but are probably removable by professional carpet cleaner. The carpet in the 2nd bedroom is kind of damaged by the current tenants rolling office chair back and forth. The carpet is a commercial grade, and  was installed in 2005. If I replace it, it would be nicer looking and easier to rent. 2. I have not painted the condo unit since 2005. Should I just patch the nail holes and patch paint them? 
i don't think i could recoup the remodel cost in a year. I might get extra $300/month ($3900 instead of $3600)

I may sell it in about 5 years,  and plan to do full remodel then. But meantime I also want to rent easily. I got a lot of interests because of the convenient location. But I got some feedbacks that my place is dated. If I get the floor done, maybe I don't need to redo the floor when I sell it, right? Should I install wood when I sell? Should I just put vinyl in bathrooms till I sell or just install tiles now then no need redo when I sell. There is a small chance that I will not sell it for a long time. 
the unit might worth close a $1M. 

[Li Kia]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Li Kia:

hi All, I would love some input. My tenant will move out in 2 weeks. I am thinking about  replacing the floor for the common areas, bedrooms, bathrooms and private hallways for my rental in a nice neighborhood. The floor guy suggested me using luxury vinyl (I think also called SPC) for all these areas. Is it ok to have vinyl planks in bathrooms?  
The entry hallway (left to living room, straight to kitchen, right to private hallway leading to bedrooms and bathrooms) has tiles - same tiles as the ones in the  kitchen.  he suggested to leave it since it is a high traffic area. Should I replace tiles with the luxury vinyl to look nicer (extra $1k to remove the tiles for such a small area, and vinyl would not be durable) or leave the tiles?

My kitchen is in pretty good condition, but has telecom ter top. Should I replace the cabinets and install slabs? I was told my unit was dated. Is it worth it to upgrade it? Expensive to remodel a kitchen! 

LVP flooring is not waterproof or even very water resistant just so you know. If water does get into the seams and underneath it it is a big PITA.
I would definitely leave the tile where you have it, because it is much more durable. I would also leave the cabinets and counters as they are unless is a higher rent area, then you could go with quartz countertops and paint the cabinets to maximize your rent. Just my two cents...

 Thank you for your input! I am wondering if I should leave the bathroom floor the way it is. It is one piece vinyl, but there are yellow color marks sip through . They look like urine stains, not attractive. Maybe I should not use vinyl planks as floor contractor suggested, right? Labor for installing tiles are expensive. My bathroom is only 20 sft. Then I am like : should I redo the shower pen and tiles on the wall and bathtub wall?  

[Bruce Woodruff]

If you're just talking bathroom, I would either a) leave it as is, or b) re-tile everything. Tile is the obvious choice for wet rooms because it is totally water proof.

But the big picture ....if you're going to sell in 5 yrs and remodel then, I wouldn't do anything now. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't remodel then either....I used to do this as a GC in San Diego, and found that it rarely, if ever, pays for itself. Especially in a big money/high demand area like you're in. New buyers will just tear out everything you did and re-do with their own colors/materials...I saw it all the time.

Save your money.

[John Clark]

Quote from @Li Kia:

 Thank you for your input! I am wondering if I should leave the bathroom floor the way it is. It is one piece vinyl, but there are yellow color marks sip through . They look like urine stains, not attractive. Maybe I should not use vinyl planks as floor contractor suggested, right? Labor for installing tiles are expensive. My bathroom is only 20 sft. Then I am like : should I redo the shower pen and tiles on the wall and bathtub wall?  

Bathroom floors should be waterproof tile. I would update the bathroom and replace the carpets. Everything else waits until you are ready to sell. Kitchen fashions change so much that you want to wait and see what's going at that time.

[Wilson Lau]

Quote from @Li Kia:

hi All, I would love some input. My tenant will move out in 2 weeks. I am thinking about  replacing the floor for the common areas, bedrooms, bathrooms and private hallways for my rental in a nice neighborhood. The floor guy suggested me using luxury vinyl (I think also called SPC) for all these areas. Is it ok to have vinyl planks in bathrooms?  
The entry hallway (left to living room, straight to kitchen, right to private hallway leading to bedrooms and bathrooms) has tiles - same tiles as the ones in the  kitchen.  he suggested to leave it since it is a high traffic area. Should I replace tiles with the luxury vinyl to look nicer (extra $1k to remove the tiles for such a small area, and vinyl would not be durable) or leave the tiles?

My kitchen is in pretty good condition, but has telecom ter top. Should I replace the cabinets and install slabs? I was told my unit was dated. Is it worth it to upgrade it? Expensive to remodel a kitchen! 

Hi @Li Kia, I would suggest keeping the tiles and probably replace the damaged carpet by new carpet. If you have plans to sell it in the future, you probably want to do a full remodel anyway, so there is no point of spending too much on it now. For kitchen, if it is in good condition, I would just leave it. Your goal now should be to put in the minimum amount of effort and money to get your unit to rentable condition so you can max out your capital return before you sell it.