All Forum Posts by: Jessica Franco

@Dick Rosen Awesome thanks, I'll get in touch with some local investors and see where they are getting their granite/supplies from. I was hoping Home Depot or Lowes would have sales for memorial day. 

@Terrell Garren Thanks your rental looks awesome! I love the gray cabinets. What countertops did you go with? 

@Phillip Rosin 

Great post, I’ve just spent the last few minutes reading the responses, there’s lots of great info listed here!

We are in the same boat as you. We currently live in one side of our duplex. We managed to bump the rent up in our other unit from $825 to $995 with just cleaning/shampooing the carpets, appliances, and some touch-up paint. However, they were built in the late 1990s and evidence of that is all around, with floral wallpaper and gold hardware throughout the property. Since we live in one side we have been doing some upgrades and doing the work ourselves to justify raising the rent when we move out. So far we have ripped out the green laminate flooring and old, dingy carpets, replaced it with LVP, got rid of the wallpaper and repainted. We are now working on the kitchen, we plan on painting the cabinets white as they are still in good condition, we just don't like the orange/golden oak look, will also be adding hardware and backsplash. The current countertops are green, like moldy cheese green! They are also chipped and have cuts (I'm pretty sure no cutting boards were ever used) We will be replacing the, just can't decide between laminate, solid surface, granite etc. It seems like granite has been the popular choice, the only thing is that the bathrooms have the same green laminate so we will need to replace those too. It could get pricey for us, but as mentioned before by a few, granite could really help with the overall ROI and not having to replace laminate every few years. We also plan on changing out the florescent light and slowly replacing the white appliances with stainless steel. We have found an awesome vendor who organized brand-new stainless-steel appliances for us on FB market place, I guess he gets them on those pallet sales they do and then sells them from his storage unit, not sure if it's legal, but hey we get a good deal. I've attached some pictures of what the kitchen looked like when we moved in and what we have done so far.

@Kristen Buckley You are awesome! Thank you for the info :D 

Definitely going to be painting the cabinets and adding hardware. We were thinking of getting rid of the bar countertop but there are some outlets on the other side that we would need to get an electrician to move (I don't trust myself with electrical work) Funny, my uncle and brother are electrical engineers but they live in South Africa so no chance of them helping out. 

I also like the idea of the butcherblock counters but I heard that they require some upkeep, would love them in my own home but not sure about a rental. I was thinking maybe solid surface, granite or quartz at a somewhat decent price 

@Kristen Buckley Thank you for your response, I totally agree with you. I'll upload a picture of our current cabinets. We've looked at other rentals in our area, it looks like a few of them have better looking kitchens. We will be listing it for rent later this year and want to justify the rent price with an upgraded kitchen, without spending an arm and a leg of course. 

Hello almal, 

Fellow South African here, living and investing in the USA, but goal is to purchase one or two short term rentals in SA. Would love to connect!

Hi there

We’re looking for some advice on upgrading our 90’s kitchen and bathrooms. We will be doing the work ourselves, we plan on renting it out when we move out later this year. We already got rid of the wallpaper and painted the walls, my husband got rid of the green laminate floors and installed new flooring, we have also found an awesome vendor who organized brand new stainless steel appliances for us at an awesome price, we are busy replacing the white appliances as they cave in on us. There is already a massive improvement, however, the kitchen could still use some work. (I've uploaded pictures of the progress so far)

We plan on painting the cabinets as they are still in good condition, we just don’t like the orange/golden oak look, will also be adding hardware and backsplash that was gifted to us. Any tips on prepping and painting cabinets for rentals? Is white risky to use in a rental?

The current countertops are green, like moldy cheese green! They are also chipped and have cuts (I’m pretty sure no cutting boards were ever used) Point of the story, they gotta go. What would you recommend replacing them with? We don’t want to go with the cheapest option as we plan on holding this rental for a good while, at the same time it’s a rental in B class so not sure about going high end. Any advice would be appreciated. 

@Adam Sharp That's awesome, I'll have to check out solid surface countertops. I like durability for sure! I'm wondering if Home Depot or Lowes will have some sales with Memorial Day around the corner! Thanks for the info, I look forward to seeing some pictures when you're done. 

@Adam Sharp Floors are on point, they look very similar to the floors that my husband installed in our property. We are also looking at painting our kitchen cabinets and installing new countertops, the current countertops are green. Have you decided what countertops you are going with? I'm shopping around, looking for something affordable, but also something that will last in a rental. 

@Kristen Buckley I had a look at some of your work, those cabinets are stunning! Thank for your informative post. My husband and I are looking at painting our kitchen and bathroom cabinets white, they are currently a golden oak color. My only concern is that we will be renting the property out when we move later this year, what are you thoughts on painted cabinets for rentals?