11 Quick and Easy Fix-Ups for Your Rental Property
It’s easy to fix up your properties if you have unlimited cash. However, you need to keep your repairs to a minimum to stay profitable. You also need to keep your properties in good shape to attract tenants or buyers. There are the basic improvements, such as carpet and paint, but these can still costs thousands of dollars. The following are some inexpensive ways to improve your properties with very little cash.
PAINT!
Paint is the easiest and most affordable way to completely change the way a property looks and feels. Stick to neutral colors but don’t be boring. Want to save even more money? Go to your local home improvement store and find all the “oops” paint in the same color family (the beiges for example). Purchase five gallons of similar colors and a five gallon bucket with a lid. Have the paint center mix all of those paints together and voila – you have five gallons of paint for about the same price as one gallon!
New Electrical Switch Plates
This is such a minor, yet overlooked improvement. Most rental owners and rehabbers paint a unit and leave the old, ugly switch plates. Even worse, some even paint over them.
New switch plates cost about 50 cents each. You can replace the entire house with new switch plates for about $20. For the foyer, living room and other obvious areas, spring for nice brass or stainless-look plates. They run about $5 each – not much for added class.
If you want to take it a step further, ditch the flip switches that you’ve seen since the early 20’s and get some hip rocker-style switches. The switches themselves won’t cost much, but having a pro install them may not be a great use of money. Don’t worry though, it’s easy to do it yourself. Ingredients: masking tape, black Sharpie, digital camera. Mark each light switch with a piece of tape and a number. Open up the receptacle and take a picture of how it is currently wired – be sure the numbered piece of tape is in the frame! Then, once you’ve taken pictures of all of them, you can switch them out and have a nice photo reference so they’re done properly. Don’t forget to turn OFF the electricity to the area you’re working on!
New or Improved Doors
Another overlooked, yet cheap replacement item is doors. If you have ugly brown doors, replace them with nice white doors (you can paint them, but unless you have a spray gun it will take you three coats by hand).
The basic hollow-core door is about $20. It comes pre-primed and pre-hung. For about $10 more, you can buy stylish six-panel doors. If you are doing a rehab, the extra $10 per door is well worth-it. For rentals, consider at least changing the downstairs doors – these are the ones that the prospective tenants are going to notice.
New Door Handles
In addition to changing doors, consider changing the handles. An old door handle (especially with crusted paint on it) looks drab. For about $10, you can replace them with new brass or aluminum finished handles. Replace the guest bathroom and bedroom door handles with the fancy “S” handles (about $20 each). Have decent handles and don’t like the color? You can actually use spray paint to easily change the appearance. Spray on a sealer and it’s like having a new handle. This trick can be used for ceiling fans and light fixtures as well!
Paint/Replace Trim
If the entire interior of the house does not need a paint job, consider painting the trim. New, modern custom homes typically come with beige or off-white walls and bright-white trim. Use a semi-gloss bright white on all the trim in your houses.
If the floor trim is worn, cracked or just plain ugly, replace it! Home Depot carries a new foam trim that is pre-painted in several finishes and costs less than 50 cents per linear foot. Grab the 3-4″ trim if you have high ceilings – it adds a nice touch. Create a great first impression by adding crown molding in the entry way and living room.
New Front Door
You only get one chance to make a first impression. A cheap front door makes a house look cheap. An old front door makes a house look old. If you have nice heavy door, paint it a bold color using a high-gloss paint. If your front door is old, consider replacing it with a new, stylish door. For about $125, you can buy a very nice door.
Don’t want to spend the money on a new door? Buy a nice new kick plate and paint the old door. Clean the windows (if any) with some Windex and elbow grease. Stubborn stuff comes off nicely with a razor blade! You can also frost front door windows by purchasing a can of spray paint designed for frosting glass. Tape your edges, follow instructions, and you have a nice custom-looking finish.
Tile Foyer Entry
After the front door, your next first impression is the foyer area. Most rental property foyers are graced with linoleum floors. Consider a nice 12″ Mexican tile. An 8′ x 8′ area should cost about $100 in materials.
New Shower Curtains
It amazes me that many landlords and sellers show properties with either no shower curtain or any ugly old shower curtain in the bathroom. Don’t be cheap – drop $40 and buy a nice new rod and fancy curtain. Too cheap to spend $40 on a shower curtain you’ll never see again. Leave it up when the tenants come through. Once the lease is signed, take it down and reuse! Bed Bath and Beyond is notorious for sending out 20% off coupons and they have a great selection. They take expired coupons too – don’t have one? Call a friend, I’m sure you can track one down.
Paint Kitchen Cabinets
Replacing kitchen cabinets can be expensive, but painting them is cheap. If you have old 1970’s style wooden cabinets in a lovely dark brown shade, paint them. Use a semi-gloss white and finish them with colorful plastic knobs. No need to paint the inside of them (unless you own a spray gun), since you are only trying to make an impression.
Americans spend 99% of their time in the kitchen (when they are not watching TV). A fancy modern faucet looks great in the kitchen. They can run as much as $150, but not to worry – most retailers (Home Depot, Home Base, etc) often run clearance sales on overstocked and discontinued models. I have found nice Delta and Price Pfister faucets for about $60 on sale.
Add Window Shutters
If you have ugly aluminum framed windows, consider adding wooden shutters outside. They come pre-primed at most hardware retailers and are easy to install. Paint them an offset color from the outside of the house – (e.g., if the house is dark, paint the shutters white. If the house is light, paint them green, blue, etc.).
Add a Nice Mailbox
Everyone on the block has the same black mailbox. Stand out. Be bold. For about $35 you can buy a nice colorful mailbox. For about $60 more, you can buy a nice wooden post for it. People notice these things….and they like them!
We’ve all experienced it: a customer we thought was “good for it” disappears or has enough complaints and excuses to fill a CD full of sad, country songs. Typically, once we’re ready to act and at the end of our rope, it’s already too late to find an agreeable solution – there are too many emotions involved and the business relationship is on perilous ground. The key is to recognize the signs early, take preemptive action, and find some type of mutually agreeable solution. Although the downturn has changed normal payment patterns, when you see any of these signs, management would be well advised to act before it’s too late.
It’s clear that most retirement portfolios in this country are seriously inadequate for the requirements of a true retirement without a major change in lifestyle. Add to this the stock market apocalypse from which many are still recovering, the real estate crash, near-zero interest rates, and massive economic turmoil and we have a recipe for disaster.
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