All Forum Posts by: Moritz Bode

It depends on the project. General contractors agreements should have the coniditions of the contract,  the work that is being done, the price, payment, when it will start and be completed, change order, taxes such as material taxes who is paying what in taxes, insurance and your obligation. Mortize Bode are you using contracts with GC are just hiring contractors?

The fact is that most renters, and I would say most people as well, unless they are in the design or construction business, can't differentiate between real wood and a laminate or LVT. You want to choose a product that will look good for a long time and will hold up to abuse. The technology for these products has improved greatly and they come with 20, 30, 50 and some even a lifetime guarantee. If you take some time to go to the store and touch these products, you'll start getting better at differentiating between them.  What you want to make sure is that there is no particle board in the composition, which is what makes up most laminate flooring.  The particle board backing will expand and distort your floor the moment water seeps in, even if just from too-damp mopping over time. You want to choose from the products that say waterproof. Here's the latest one we're installing:

https://www.lumberliquidators.com/ll/c/pad-Dewy-Meadow-Oak-Engineered-Vinyl-Plank-Flooring-CoreLuxe-RVP4DMO/10045396

This one even comes with built-in padding on the back. Hope that helps. Go to the stores and talk to the folks there.  They'll tell you which products landlords are using.  First question they ask us is whether we're looking for something for our home or a rental.

@Moritz Bode Moritz, I would agree with several of the points made here - 

@Account Closed is correct in making the point that each rehab will be market dependent - for example you don't put hardwood floors throughout a $150K rental but you definitely do in a $750K. This will be about tastes and preferences in your market. The easiest way to find out is call your local property rental manager and ask them - in your price range what is popular right now for fixtures and flooring.

@Marie D. is absolutely right about LVT it's very popular and a dream for rentals.

@Kenneth Garrett is right too overall rehabbing bathrooms and kitchens will raise your usage value higher than almost anything else apart from extra square footage or if you have limited space and too few bathrooms putting an extra bath in if you don't have enough room for an extra bedroom is a good choice as long as it doesn't contribute to any functional obsolescence ( that is as long as putting a bathroom in won't make the rest of the rooms too small for them to be usable)

I would not agree with siding unless the exterior really needs a facelift and then I would just repair and paint unless you need to weather protect. In my experience ( and I am in your area) the more updated and current your offering is the more desirable and that will always give you an edge in any market. The key to know where to draw the line is with your upgrades is to know your market. Go and look at the houses that are currently listed in your ARV zone. Study the Realtor listings and note down the advantages of the home that the Realtor or agent is listing - you will see a pattern - Realtors know what sells in that price point and you can glean a lot of helpful information about marketing from being familiar with them.

The other thing that I would say is try to get a feel for the materials used in the higher end homes and include at least one of those if you can - feature walls, subway tile, a granite island top if you don't want to kit out the whole kitchen etc. Just choose one of these features It will raise it from the bog standard and when it's your property against another bog standard every advantage will affect how the renter chooses.

Hope that helps.