realtor visits

quick update for those who dont know, my sister and i bought a 3-family house last month and are planning to convert it to condos. to save on capital gans, we plan to rent out unit 3 for a year and then sell it. we then will kick out the 2nd floor tenant and do the same. finally we will do the 1st floor, which we plan to combine with the basement into a 2br, 2ba, 7 room unit. we had a realtor come over and give us some advice about plans to renovate. here is what she said:

altho the hardwood has tape stains from laminate, do not sand them down to fix it, not until after you are done renting. you can only sand so many times before the floor is too thin to do it again.

when we do the floors, do them high-gloss.

duplex the first floor is a great idea, much better than using basement for storage units.

fireplaces can be great values, but for the area in which we live is would be over the top and a waste of money.

pave paradise and put up a parking lot (bye bye backyard).

she didn't mind having bedroom and bathroom doors off the kitchen, and in fact prefered it to having them off the living room (which we were considering doing)

she suggested having porcelein patching done to the bathroom tile on the 1st and 3rd floors. this is essentially painting them. She suggests we make them all white, remove the shower doors, and accent around where they used to be.

She was psyched when we presented the idea of travertine floors in the bathrooms.

she suggested central a/c for the 1st and 3rd floor, and an industrial dehumidifier for the basement. she said that the 2nd floor wouldnt need it b/c it got the most shade and would get some cooling by being in the middle of the 1st and 3rd floors. I cant say I agree with that, i think all units should get central, but we will see.

she absolutely loved the idea of washer-dryer hookups, probably more thn anything else except the parking lot, and particularly liked them in the kitchen.

buying glass french doors for the 3rd floor closet is not worth the money, but we could do it if we reuse the existing doors elsewhere.

security systems are worthless

intercom systems are worth it

people want to have ceiling fans because they are aware of the energy savings they provide. they want recessed lighting first (in all rooms), but if the light is on the fan, it should be a hampton bowl, not a spotlight. either way, lights should have dimmers.

we should put in disposals and under-counter lights. she is all about lighting.

having a water faucet over the oven is overkill.

we should add some more electrical outlets. some people notice when there arent many.

double sinks are worth the money

invest in impressive faucets, they are worth the money

do not install an island, it would border on overkill, and if someone wants one they can build it themselves relatively cheaply.

paint should be nuetral and matte. she loved the ones julie had picked out.

at first she liked the idea of roof access, but she balked when i told the staircase extension would cost like 10-15k or more. we then discussed other options, and we suggested building a much more inexpensive pull-down stairway, like one typically uses to get to an attic. she liked that better. i told her my idea not to spend the money on a deck, but simply to provide "roof access" because nobody cared if we had a deck, they would enjoy the roof without it. she agreed. either way, it would provide roof access for a. repairs b. a/c units. She suggested that if we didn't create roof access we deed the "right" to build roof access to the 3rd floor. She suggested that if we did create roof access, we deed said access to the 3rd floor. I disagree with this, as I believe all units would benefit from roof access and thus it would add value to all units.

Julie, if i got anything wrong, please correct me in comments.