You can do things however you want to do them, it’s your project, but this is what worked for me. First move is to remove any trash or junk to the backyard. Move clutter to the backyard to start establishing “curb appeal”. Then sterilize the place, so you have an open and sterile work environment. It’s hard and disgusting to work in someone else’s mess. The next move is to begin creating “curb appeal”, unless this is somewhere you’ll be living for a while. If it’s just property to flip, at least get the front of the house painted (or at least what’s visible from the street), and get the landscaping together. You don’t have to go overboard on grass and flowers, but at least make them look manageable and basic. If any gates need to be repaired, take care of that. Gates are the first thing a potential client/customer notices when they pull up.
This is my reasoning on the topic: the sooner your curb appeal is together, the sooner you can throw a “For Sale” sign out front. You can then start shopping to other investors. So think, you tidied the place up and an investor has a different mind and vision than a normal client. Put an extra 5K on what you paid for the place (if it’s not somewhere you have to live), tell the investor you’re leaving him or her the lion’s share of money on the table in exchange for a quick turnaround. The only condition is they can close in cash in 30 days. You never know who will jump at it, and might be more interested in doing everything themselves, plus they can stop hunting. You just made a quick 5K for 3-4 days of work. Not bad. I’m just throwing 5K out as a random number, but say, 6-10% mark-up over what you paid should be enough to leave everybody happy. This is something like the shortstop getting the out at second base instead of taking the chance to throw all the way across to first base. Why, when second base is closer?
You would want to have the electricity and plumbing together first, so that your contractors can operate. Immediately next, you have to consider weather factors. If you’re somewhere it rains a lot, first attention has to go to the roof. You don’t want leaks and/or dampness ruining your work or even worse, someone possibly getting shocked over using electricity in a wet environment. On the converse, if you’re in a dry season/climate, the roofing can be put off until last. If it’s a hot time of year, you’ll need adequate ventilation/cooling so your workers don’t pass out on you. If it’s a cooler time of year, you need to address heating first. Especially in climates that can drop below freezing. Perfect example: my first investment in Atlanta, we closed during the winter months, and the combination of the water and heat being shut off and on again with temperatures in the teens caused some pipes to rupture, and thank God the agent caught it; but I was still facing a locksmith bill (for the agent to get access to the property faster than I could mail the keys), a $300 plumbing bill and a $300 water bill, before I’ve even made a dime on the place.
If necessary, pest extermination is also something you want to address off the bat. I know what it is to have had to secure a property that was crawling with rats and roaches. Disgusting topic and I don’t want to revisit it. Just cover it. You’ll also want to address security right away, I’ve also been through having supplies, cabinets, brand new rolls of carpet, and tools grow legs and walk away as soon as you thought you locked the property up for the evening. Thank goodness these things were insurable (except the tools), but the worst was catching someone in one of my properties, where the neighbors let me know they had entered through the outside access to the basement. I thought I would play it cool and lock the basement door behind them and deal with them in the morning. Lo and behold, apparently they panicked when they realized they couldn’t get back out through the basement, so what they did was tear out about $2000.00 worth of new plumbing lines to get access to the crawlspace in order to escape. I guess I would too, if I figured the owner caught me and was coming back for me in the morning. Depending on the neighborhood, sometimes your best security is getting familiar with the neighbors. There’s a saying in the I Ching, “A prince who refuses to walk amongst his people may as well try to control the four winds.” Security is almost impossible without at least an eye from your new neighbors, unless they are the vandals. The first and foremost thing you can do for security is before you even make the decision to put money down on a property, drive through the neighborhood after 9 p.m. You don’t truly see what the neighborhood itself is like until 9 p.m., once all the residents are generally home. Seasoned investor will know what I’m talking about when I say some neighborhoods will present one way in daylight, and a completely different scene emerges at night.
If the case is that you both A) plan on living in the property and B) you are a woman, or will have a woman living with you as you work, then emphasis shifts to getting the kitchen & bathroom squared away. Most guys can “rough it” as long as the kitchen and bathroom(s) are sterile, but this absolutely will not work for a woman.
With sanitation, plumbing, electrical, heating/cooling and security stabilized, now it should be on to beautifying your property. If it’s in your budget, I suggest replacing outdated windows with modern vinyl windows. One, the heat transfer is much improved over standard glass. Two, many come with a 25 year warranty, which will mostly likely outlast the next remodel. Three, vinyl is more durable because of its ability to flex, so you not worried about an errant rock or baseball from neighborhood children.
The property starts selling itself from the curb, so the next thing would be estimating the front door, as the front door sets the tone for what prospective clients would expect to see inside. Evaluate the door for wear, cracks, tightness in the hinges, and how well it seals when closed. The wear and cracks are cosmetic items that will tend to discourage a client, but the tightness of the hinges and seal actually cause heating/cooling bills to go up, and a loose front door (or any door for that matter) makes an entryway for vermin. If the door is functional, then a finish carpenter most likely can bring it back to life. You have to decide how elaborate you want to be, you can have him sand every nook and cranny for a natural wood grain finish, lay door skins over the door and start with a fresh surface to work with, or just go with paint. If you go with paint, go for one of the higher-end paints; it’s a relatively small surface, so the expense won’t be that much more.
You want to work from top to bottom once it comes time for painting and dry walling. The logic is whatever falls on the floor is going to be replaced any way, but why spend a fortune on new flooring then get paint on it? Hopefully, ceilings and walls can be remedied with a little sanding and joint compound, but some places the damage is just too bad and you will have to pull the ceiling. This takes special equipment, so if you’re not a pro drywaller, I wouldn’t suggest trying to do this yourself. Even if I wanted to do the drywalling myself, experience says it’s better to bring in a professional to handle a ceiling.
Once done, paint ceilings first, again, so whatever drips you have fall on the floor you plan on replacing anyway. Patch and paint walls, which is one of your simpler tasks maybe you can do on a random weekend or evening. I recommend going with the best paint your budget will afford. One thing I learned the hard way, the cheaper the paint, it seems to have less “sticking power”. In other words, you’ll end up having to put twice as many coats on with the $15.00/gallon paint versus the $30.00/gallon paint. At least with the $30.00 per gallon paint, you get thru twice as fast, and remember, you’re always seeking to save time in these projects. Also, the colors on the more expensive paints just seem to be more vivid and classy, in my opinion, which makes the property more attractive. Clients may not know what the difference is, but they notice the difference when you use better quality paints.
Paints come in three main finishes, flat, semi-gloss, and high-gloss. In a rental or resale property, the advantage to flat is that if you get a scratch or mark on the paint, you can quickly cover just that spot with flat, and only the sharpest eye will be able to tell. If you get a scratch or mark on the glosses, you have to at least paint the whole wall; you’ll be able to see the difference. Going to the other end of the spectrum, high-gloss is very shiny and can give a “glaring” look to a property, but I’ve heard of some investors swearing by high-gloss throughout a rental property that’s most likely going to be low rent, high turnover with young children, reason being high-gloss makes for easy clean-up between tenants. Grease, dirt and stains don’t saturate into high-gloss so much as they’ll saturate into semi-gloss and flat. But you experiment with whichever suits you, or what you get the best results with.
Also, painting drives out old smells of the last owners and gives the house a fresh scent. Not saying the old owners stink, but everyone has their unique bodily scent they leave where they live, and it can be a turn-off. Just like staging furniture, you have to keep in mind, clients want to picture their belongings in the home, not yours. Same with smells, clients don’t want to smell any smell in the home but their own.
You most likely got some tired flooring, as flooring gets worn after 10 years or so. All of your mistakes and messes will fall to the floor anyway, so once done with ceilings and walls, then consider whether your flooring can be saved with a good clean up, or if it should just be replaced. Old flooring can sometimes hold odors from the previous owners too, that may not be removable no matter how many times the floor is steam cleaned or buffed. Whatever you decide to do, once you’re satisfied with your flooring, keep it protected and covered with some sort of tarp or plastic sheeting until the property is ready to show, as you don’t want new foot traffic visible over the new flooring. The property should show like no one’s ever been in it before.
Once you’ve conquered your flooring, now it’s time for a once over inspection to see if you missed anything that might look out of place or unsightly. You may even want to bring in another pair of eyes that’s unfamiliar with the property. If you’re satisfied your property is complete, then put it up on the market with confidence someone else will see the value of your work too.
