Real Estate Investing: Two Rooms that Must Be Re-Done

Prior to purchasing your residential investment property, you should budget your remodel or renovation costs. The main advantage to this is the work can begin as soon as the closing is done. This will save you a lot of time and money, which are both key elements in any business especially real estate. The demographic of home buyers has changed a lot in the past few years. In fact, a lot of single women are buying houses as aggressively as men are. Besides single women, the woman in any marriage kind of has the final say when purchasing big ticket items like a house, a car, even appliances. According to the National Association of Realtors, women control or influence $7 trillion in consumer spending annually and make 85% of all purchase decisions. As a married man, I agree with the statement that I make the money, but my wife gets to spend it. Taking the above facts into consideration, the two rooms that should be re-done are the kitchen and bathroom.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is practically the selling point for women in most houses. If you purchase a house that has a kitchen that needs a lot of work, trust me, go the extra mile and make it look beautiful. Although, keep in mind it has to sync with the rest of the house. You don't want to have kitchen with granite counter tops and hardwood floors, but you have Berber carpet in the living room. Most people who invest usually do not budget in the cost of an interior designer, and you shouldn't. Instead, ask your realtor or friends (with good design sense) about tips and advice about designing the house. Better yet, watch tons of HGTV! Real inexpensive ways to re-design the kitchen are re-surfacing and staining the kitchen cabinets, to upgrading the countertops; adding extra lighting or maybe even an island if you have the space. And remember, nothing brightens up any space, including the kitchen, like a coat of paint.

Bathrooms

Bathrooms, especially the master need to re-done to the point where it takes the potential buyer's breath away. Again, don't go overboard with the design to the point you spend half the budget just in the bathroom and the rest of the house looks the same. The flow of design should be constant throughout the house. Easy fixes to make the bathrooms look good are tiling, adding new cabinets, changing the countertops, etc. Older houses have a little medicine cabinet over the sink, the easiest way to update that is to add extra cabinet space if the bathroom has it, close in the medicine cabinet and add a nice framed mirror in its place. Adding new lighting and maybe even changing out the toilet are other good ideas to keep the bathrooms up to date.

The most important task while renovating your investment property is to stay within the budget. Always ask for second opinions when you are not sure, and more importantly trust your gut; after all, the decision at the end is yours. The times are still a bit rough and there are people out there still looking for work; if it was ever a good time to be buying real estate - this is it!

Sources: www.realtor.org