So, to re-cap, I closed on Friday, had my contractors come in and install recessed lighting, a new backsplash, and scrape a ceiling (textured ceilings date a place and with the new lighting it made sense to do it now). Monday was staging and photographs and I had the house listed for rent by Monday night.
I’ve had about 3-4 calls/emails per day since then and I’ll show the house this Sunday to a bunch of potentials. I’m hoping to get a lease signed by Tuesday when I go out of town.
Here are the before and afters:
Although I loved this door color, it was a little too feminine to appeal to the masses so I had to paint it.
Color: Red Pepper by Behr
In addition to painting the door, I also changed out the door lock like I do on all my units. This one has a keypad that I can change when the tenant turns-over. I also key in a code that only I know so that if I need to get in for any reason, like to let in a contractor when the tenant isn’t home and I have their permission, I can do so. I’ve also heard of people keying in a code specifically for contractors to use, but then I would have to change it every time and I’d rather just let them in with my code.
I also pay my kids to help me in the house so that they can learn how to do some of the house repair/renovation and also earn some money. Both my boys now know how to switch out a light fixture by themselves after helping me over the weekend.
That light fixture was coming down, not going up!
And now for the photos with staging from the photographer I hired.
This photo is from BEFORE the ceiling was scraped. It is now nice and smooth!
So all the furniture in these photos came from my own house. The only things I bought were the pillows and the art work from Home Goods and I bought the couch cover from Wayfair. I can re-use all of my new purchases for the next staging. Everything else I shopped from my living room (side chairs and coffee table), family room (knick knacks), bedroom (lamps and rug), office (plants), and basement (couch).
The other “big” item that I did was to have the contractor install a new backsplash since the other one clashed with the brown toned granite countertops.
Bad design choice…
I also replaced the crystal like cabinet pulls with stainless steel knobs since they were on the feminine side as well. With the addition of neutral oversized white tiles with khaki grout, the kitchen is looking much better!
So, the house is now ready for business! I listed it on Zillow which populates my listing to HotPads and Trulia as well. I’ll also post it on Craigslist which is easy to do since Zillow gives you a link to use for Craigslist that makes the listing look professional quality.
Now I just have to tenant screen which is not my favorite, but I have a system that I use to make it less painful. I can share that if there’s any interest. Wish me luck on finding the perfect tenant!
