All Forum Posts by: David Handel

I used Jo Garner at Evolve.  Purchase on mine was $72k, and appraisal came back at $90k.  The only hiccups I had were based on my history, not the property.

Ideally, I would say to have a pro do it. The kitchen is one of the selling points of a property, whether for rent or for resale.  From across the room, a DIY job will look fine.  It is usually pretty obvious if it was a DIY job when you are up close.  When using the kitchen, you always see cabinets up close.

Many paint stores will also help you choose colors.  Some can have a rep visit the property to help with selection.  This service will require that you buy from them, but it simplifies the task.

I would use a fast dry oil primer like PPG's 17-964 (http://www.ppgpaints.com/products/seal-grip-interior-premium-quick-dry-primer-sealer) to seal up the paneling.  It will give you a great foundation for your top coat.  If you want to fill in the lines, I would use a stronger product, like Zinsser Ready patch.

Look into visiting the Madison REIA. There are plenty of people to help you on your journey.

After painting the cabinets white, I would go with white appliances.  It would give you a more consistent look.

From the picture, it doesn't look like you have that much space to upgrade the fridge.  You have to measure it out to see if you can move away from the "back up" sized fridge.

It is never too large or nice to rent!  The issue becomes on what you can rent it for and how much you need to cashflow.  

Just to pick a random number, can you get $2k+ in the area?  That is 2 1/2 times the average rent that you gave.  With the numbers you shared, you are looking at almost 0.5% for your rent to value ratio.  Long term renting might not be the best use on the property with those numbers.  I would lean toward selling it.

What type of lumber did you use?  Did you use KDAT (kiln dried after treatment)?

If you used traditional pressure treated, I would leave it alone until it seasons.  The wood is supersaturated with chemicals and over then next couple of months it will continue to off-gas.  As it off-gasses, it will push up on the coating.  Most products won't hold back that pressure will peel/fail.

KDAT is a bit more costly, but is ready to coat with whatever you want immediately.

I would use a semi transparent stain.  If the buyer wants to switch to an opaque product, they can do that relatively easily later.  It will be much more difficult if you put on an opaque coating and they want to go to a see-through product later.

@Michael K. Do a search here on BP for Chris Heeren.  He does a lot of marketing in the Janesville/Beloit area, and can wholesale you some properties in that area.

@Matthew Thompson meetings are held 2nd & 4th Monday of each month.  Madisonreia.com is the website.  I hope you can make the meeting tomorrow.  Tell them Dave from PPG Paints referred you when you sign in.