New roof? Addition of a pool? New kitchen appliances? New floors?
Something else? Paint job?
“Repairs” don’t add value. They restore value.
“Adding value” is another matter.
“Value-added” is yet another matter.
Pools are ‘value-added’ elements of a house, but they typically add no value to your retail sale.
Sure, a pool home may sell faster, but they don’t sell for more. Thus, a pool remains a "value-added’ element ONLY for the buyer.
Adding value: If the neighborhood is largely 3/2’s and yours is a 2/1, theoretically you can add enough value to the 2/1 by adding a bed and bath that you could make a profit.
Typically, on a bread-and-butter rehab, upgrading the kitchen and bath is where you focus the most resources.
My gut feeling is if the curb appeal is lacking they wont even see the kitchen or bathroom.
If the house looks like an entrance to Uncle Billy Bob’s pig hunting shack, then my offer is low low low.
A new front door, paint and some flowers just might get them in the door.
But then, as a wholesaler, I’ve never done a darn thing to them, Wait, I did sweep one out to get it rented. I’ve discovered, the worse they are, it seems the faster they sell. Luckily my buyers have some vision and imagination. I still wonder why some of these crack house ghetto dwellings have sold for the amount they did.
But, not to waste too much time wondering the why, but, getting busy finding more.
Let’s make some frikin money.
Rando
On a retail lease, or sale, we’re dealing with end/users, so the outside needs to look sharp. After that, it’s the bath and kitchen.
The rest of the house doesn’t actually have to be in first class condition to rent, or even completely clean. I’ve rented many houses with marks on the wall, stains on carpets, and even dirty windows. Of course, it depends on the demand, and the rent being quoted, and how picky you are about credit, I suppose.
Regardless, we focus on marketing the exterior first. We’ve done so many different things, depending on the budget to market a house, but I would say the appearance of the front door makes the biggest impact.
For years now we’ve painted the front door Bordeaux Red; installed a (aluminum) polished brass kick plate; and a brass porch light (which are sometimes hard to find).
That includes installing 7" solid brass address numbers. BTW, we have the brass cleared coated, so they stay shiny for about three years.
Meantime, everybody seems to be an interior decorator, but nobody seems to have the vision to overcome an unkempt yard, scruffy landscape, and lack thereof.
Here’s a standard application of our “rental marketing” approach, which also happens to be our “retail marketing” approach. Who knew?
We installed a brass mailbox on this house, after we replaced the front door, which had previously held a mail-slot. We also installed a plain, white, porch-light to make it disappear.
The wreath would be overkill, but it was cold, Christmas, and try leasing up a house during the second week of Christmas. Ho ho holy crap, that’s bad timing. Just saying.
http://jaypalmquist.com/images/rental-house.png
FWIW
All the main ones were covered above.
The best way to go about it is to think - what makes the place look a lot better but has the lowest cost. Paint and landscaping should be the first ones you do.
New floors if the old ones are dirty.
New appliances if the old ones are really dated.