The remodel of a historic home turned rental property

At the end of September 2020, a listing popped on the MLS that caught my eye. I sent it to Levi and he asked how soon we could see it. Within a few hours we had walked every square inch of that property, looked at everything we could think of and made a full price offer. We closed on the property a month later.

Here’s why we instantly knew this was a good deal:

The price was right: First and foremost, this property caught our eye because it was priced to sell. (This was at the very beginning of when the market really started heating up.)
Local knowledge: Because of my previous engineering job at the Sanford Lab, I knew that a whole lot of contractors would be moving to the area and the demand for rental properties was going to increase at an exponential rate.
Renovation: This property was liveable without us making a single update. This is important to consider when looking at rental properties, ask yourself “What do I need to do to make this property liveable?” versus “What do I want to do?” Our list was full of wants to make it more aesthetically pleasing to attract a renter willing to pay more for a nicer property.
Rental Rates: Knowing our all-in price (purchase price plus renovation budget), I knew I could rent the property for more than 1%/month of our all-in price - which is unheard of in this market.
DONE DEAL.

As with just about any job ever, we had a budget in mind for the remodel, and once we got in there and started tearing things up, our budget doubled. That’s how it goes sometimes (or every time ha), you can do your due diligence and try to think through the worst-case scenario, but in a 137-year-old home, you really have no idea what you’ll uncover.

Here’s what we did:

Complete kitchen remodel, including opening up the kitchen, new cabinets (we tried to save these until Levi pried open a lower cabinet filled with STANDING WATER), new countertops, new plumbing and electrical. We raised the ceiling, necessary for the electrical but also made the space feel more open. We added a dishwasher (non-negotiable for me), all new appliances and a new water heater.
We opened up the “pantry space” off the kitchen and added a washer/dryer (also non-negotiable). New flooring (which included pouring a new concrete pad, hello dirt right under the old flooring), new walls, new exterior door.
Complete bathroom remodel (this house only has one bathroom so we knew we needed to make it more functional). New electrical, we moved the plumbing around (it was awkwardly laid out previously), new flooring, drywall and paint. We also found a special soaker tub that would fit in the smaller space so if renters had kiddos they could still have bathtime. We tiled the shower, which most would say is silly for a rental property, but I believe it’s important to make a space *pretty* to attract tenants that will appreciate and take care of your property.
Through the house we tore up the carpet, sanded down the original hardwood floors and painted them. (The original floors were a softer wood so it didn’t make sense to stain them).
New stair runner up the stairs, one of my favorite parts of the house.
Fresh coat of paint EVERYWHERE.

I love these before and after photos. This was a fun project even though it had its fair share of nightmares (the sewer line froze the day before our first tenants moved in, so add that to the list of repairs!)