Taking a rental from dumpy to lovely

Sometimes it can be difficult to find the potential beauty in a run-down and dirty property. The new investor or home buyer wants to run away from simple fixes such as smell, cracks in the wall, ugly paint and seemingly bad problems such as mold or water damage. Many times, the mold and water damage is an easy fix and not always as hazardous as projected.

Houses that smell like a zooSo you found a great property but once you go inside, you’re smacked in the face by the smell of animals. There are probably urine stains. How do you get rid of urine smell? If there is carpet in the house, just pull it all up. I can tell you from experience that there is no amount of deep carpet cleaning that will rid of the smell of urine. Once we pulled up the carpet and padding, I came back the next day and the place still smelled bad! This is not something where a pet had a single accident or two. This is where the pet owners did not take care of their pets. Cats generally would much rather use their clean litter box if it’s available to them than pee on the floor.

Anyways, I bought a big bottle of bleach and a mop and we mopped all of the subfloor with it. When I arrived the next day, there was no more smell! There are cases where even the bleach may not fully work. Sometimes you may have to pinpoint the smell and replace that area of subfloor too. Also, be sure to see that the smell isn’t coming from the wall; if a un-nurtured cat is spraying, it’s very likely to be on the walls.

MoldMany times you see on home improvement shows that the scariest thing to come across is mold. They bring in a mold remediation team, go on and on about how unsafe it is, and see the dollar signs go up. But if you see mold, take a closer look before you panic. The most important thing is to find out why mold grew in the first place and fix that! For instance, if it is something such as an old shower that has failed and allowed water behind the walls, you know the source is failing grout/tiles/etc. Demo the area and examine the studs. Do they have some mold on them but are still structurally sound? Then this problem has not festered long enough to do further damage. Bleach back to the rescue! Put bleach in a spray bottle and spray down the area. Then go have a drink or do another task and let the bleach do its thing. No remediation team needed. Did a water pipe break and now mold has started growing on the wall? Again, confirm you’ve fixed the water issue and then examine the mold area. If it’s a small area, try spraying a light coat of bleach and see if it’s cleans up. For worse cases, you may have to look behind the drywall and possibly replace it.

Aesthetic accents that don’t break the budgetOnce a fix-up property is acquired, the next step is to know the neighborhood! Do not rehab a property with granite countertops when all the neighbors have laminate. Do not put heated floors in a rental property unless it’s a high-end rental. People easily go over budget and waste money treating a property as if it’s their own home. Know your market! Stay on budget! You can still add low-cost features to make your property stand out.

White paint is boringWe made our rentals stand out first of all by painting the walls something other than white. The new “in” color these days seems to be gray, so we went with that and got tons of compliments during open house showings. This costs marginally more than white paint, so it was worth it to us. In addition, we put down laminate flooring planks that looks like wood. It’s beautiful, affordable, durable, and doesn’t stain or hold smells like carpet.

Grey paint scheme and “wood” flooring.

Tile adds that extra touchAnother decision to make in average rentals is to do the tub surround or tile. We decided to go with tile in this particular property. A simple white and take it all the way up to the ceiling. It’s really not that much more material or work to bring the tile all the way to the ceiling, and it really makes it look nice. Tile is also very durable and can last for years and years if installed properly. Be sure to search for deeply discounted tile at places that sell excess materials. If you happen to be in Maryland, Community Forklift is a wonderful place to search for various household gems. It’s best to shop for these deals before you need them so that you’re not rushed and stressed. Store your deeply-discounted findings until needed.

Simple white tile brought up to the ceiling.

We also decided to add a back splash in the kitchen of this property because there was a great sale going on at Home Depot. I lost count on how many times I heard, “Oh I love this!” when people came to the open house. So, go ahead and make your rental property stand out! Design a rental property that demands market rent instead of being forced to drop below market rent just to get interest. Make people remember your property and rush to send you a rental application. A dingy rental can be made safe, clean, and beautiful on a budget!

Back splash tiling in kitchen.