Product Highlight Series- Helping Investors Find Great Products, Pt.3:

This is the third part of a five-part series where we will highlight some of the best products we are using on our flips and rental properties and give you real life actionable tips to help your business.

In our business, we do a ton of volume every year on flip and rental properties. When you do as much work as us, you tend to notice a lot of patterns and trends that the best investors use. We’ve been through all the trial and error of design and product/material choosing on a flip or investment, and have found out what generally works the best and has the greatest value for the dollar. So sit back, relax, and let us save you some headaches and time by giving you some of our favorite products.

The topic of the day today is granite counter tops. I’ll also throw a few quartz slabs that are cheap and great for flips and rentals. Granite/Quartz has become immensely popular and buyers have almost come to expect these surfaces in kitchens and bathrooms of the home they buy. The benefit of this to you the investor is the costs for granite has come down significantly in recent years, as well as some quartz slabs. It’s still not as cheap as a laminate or solid surface, but the price is now low enough to be worth the investment in your flip or rental. Plus you get unmatched durability vs a laminate or solid surface.

Here are 5 great slabs we use on our projects that are reasonably priced and high quality (no cheap made in China here)

1. Colonial White/Colonial Cream- This is a great white granite with gray/black movement through it, almost a cookies and cream look. It’s not that busy of a slab, and has a minimal yellow/beige tint to it, and plays well in kitchen lighting. Pricing in our market usually runs about $750/slab.
2. Bianco Romano Suprema: This granite is about $75-100 more per slab than the Colonial White/Cream, but it’s more of a pure white slab. It also doesn’t usually have any of the purple dots or veining that is common in white granite slabs. It’s one of the best slabs to use in a modern/contemporary look designed home. This slab has received the most positive reviews of any of the white granite we use.
3. Blue Night- Here is a beautiful granite slab that’s a great neutral with subtle depth and details to it. It’s a dark gray base with some faint and light dark blue movement and veining through it. It can highlight the blue or not depending on the type of lighting as well, giving it a unique and expensive look. We’ve used this with white and light colored cabinets to give a great contrast. It even pairs well with a white quartz or granite if you’re doing a multi-tone kitchen (hint hint maybe even use Colonial White or Bianco Romano).
4. Giallo Santo- This granite is a more traditional beige granite but still popular and well received by prospective buyers and tenants. It fits well in a rustic or traditional/Mediterranean style home. It’s a beige/gold-ish base with some black and dark grey veining and a medium/high amount of movement. It’s also the most affordable on the list. We pair it with espresso or cognac colored cabinets.
5. Calacatta/Marble look Quartz- This is a new quartz product we’ve been using and are loving it. It’s the cheapest on the list (we get it for about $450-500/slab), and is an amazing neutral look. It’s a marble look with light movement, simple and elegant. It offers the most value and bang for your buck on counters in my opinion. Perfect for a flip with a contemporary scheme, and can pretty much match with any type of cabinet.

These five types of granite will give you some great options to try on your next project. It can help you sell that next project faster and up that wow factor that you need to stand out with a flip in today’s market. Give some a try and let us know how it looks!