Renovating Your Apartment: 6 Ways for Successful Makeover

• Where to Start and How to Plan?
• The Renovations Tenants Will Love and Pay For
• Kickstart Your Redesign: Must-Have Tools

1. Top priority rooms: Kitchen
2. Remodeling the Bathroom
3. Floors
4. Easy Fixes
5. Open Floor Plan
6. Popular Amenities

• Why Renovating Your Apartment Attracts More Tenants?

Where to Start and How to Plan?

If you’re planning a large-scale home makeover involving several rooms and projects, you might be unsure where to begin. Should you start in common areas, like the kitchen or living room, to get them out of the way? Or is it better to focus on out-of-sight places so the kitchen and bathroom remain usable longer? Should you manage the renovation independently or hire a professional to handle it?

Before you start any renovation work, make a plan that includes a schedule, a budget, and a list of all the rooms you plan to renovate. If your renovation projects are relatively simple, like painting, tiling, or flooring, you could give it a try yourself.

You cannot go wrong with an inside-out method. Proceed from the interior (such as the floors and walls) to the exterior (aesthetic finishes). After finishing the main components, you can paint your walls, install new light fixtures, or replace the cabinet hardware.

The Renovations Tenants Will Love and Pay For

Cutting costs and corners will only cause you problems down the road when you realize that you should have spent more money on natural wood flooring rather than laminate, replaced your temperamental radiators with the best ones, or purchased a stronger shower head to give your bathroom the feel of a five-star hotel.

Whether you are planning a rental-friendly bathroom renovation or starting a large-scale renovation project, you must take your time to get the finest finish. This advice exacerbates every mistake and regrets inexperienced renovators have over their completed projects. If you take your time, you won’t regret choosing the paint color that you ultimately hated or skipping the renovation project you end up regretting every day.

A vacant property is a landlord’s worst enemy. So, landlords need to be skilled at attracting and retaining tenants. To attract potential tenants, rental apartments should be comfortable, attractive, and functional but still be a blank canvas for tenants to make their own.

Investing in the interests of your tenants is one of the finest methods of increasing your return on investment. By doing so, the apartments will become more appealing, raising the possibility that they will be occupied and become profitable properties.

There are various ways to make a property look nicer for tenants, from minor adjustments like replacing hardware to bigger tasks like demolishing walls. But which improvements raise a rental property’s worth the most?

Renters highly value the kitchen and bathroom’s appearance, feel, and functionality. Apartment renovations can be complicated undertakings.

Pre-Planning

You should devote plenty of time, thought, and effort to the pre-planning phase to ensure that everything you desired could be ordered and arranged.

The worst-case scenario is overspending on goods because you didn’t have enough time to conduct adequate research to find what you really wanted at a price you were willing to pay, or you ordered the wrong item in a rush and had to “make do” with an expensive but inferior alternative because the item you really wanted had a five-month lead time.

One advantage of engaging a professional team for larger, multi-trade projects is that they will know where to start and where to go from there. In the long run, these pros can do these tasks more quickly, saving you from having to spend more time than necessary. Not to mention that working in the wrong order may result in unfavorable outcomes, which is another reason it’s advisable to use a professional team.

A good contractor makes all the difference. But first, compile a list of recommendations. Online reviews, relatives, and friends are excellent places to start. Always verify references, and don’t forget to get at least three bids. This helps you compare prices and services. 

Living amidst renovations is tough. If the noise and mess are too much, consider temporary housing. In fact, short-term rentals can be lifesavers. 

Kickstart Your Redesign: Must-Have Tools

When organizing a redesign project, gather creative ideas. As soon as you start getting ideas, make a mood board. Numerous online photo collage editors, such as Canva and Adobe Spark, allow you to organize product photos and make notes. Likewise, Pinterest is an excellent starting point for gathering ideas.

Try to identify any recurring themes and elements. From furniture styles to colors to patterns, ask yourself what kind of decor styles you lean towards.

Sketch out the room and make a rough floor plan. Measure everything you might need–not just the lengths of walls. Take a piece of graph paper or use an online virtual room program tool. With your measurements, create a rough sketch. 

Take a look at these online room decorator tools and apps:

1. Planner 5D
2. Roomstyler
3. Ikea Home Planner Tools
4. Design a Room
5. Homestyler
6. The Home Renovator
7. Sweet Home 3D
8. SmartDraw
9. HomeByMe
10. MagicPlan
11. Amikasa
12. DecorMatters

Start With Your Highest-Priority Room

Start with the repairs that need the most attention, and once those are finished, work on the aesthetic adjustments. For most homeowners, it’s a good idea to start with their top priority, the kitchen or the bathroom. These spaces are high-value rooms and are known to be costly to renovate. In this manner, the highest priority room will be done even if they run out of money or energy.

The kitchen and bathroom will be your apartment’s most demanding renovation jobs and the best places to start when redoing your home. These spaces require extensive mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work.

This makes deciding where to start very personal, but ultimately, this method will make you happiest.

1. Kitchen

Updating everything in the kitchen, particularly the appliances, is what landlords discovered to offer them a wonderful return on investment. Renters will benefit greatly from an upgrade in the kitchen’s operation even if you cannot afford top-tier products.

Additional kitchen upgrades to raise the curb appeal of your rental home include:

Cabinets: Sand and paint the current cabinets yourself before spending too much on brand-new furniture. For a modern, sleek look, finish them with fresh hardware.

Countertops: If you can afford it, select a kitchen countertop material that is, at minimum, heat-, scratch-, and stain-resistant, like granite and quartz.

Finish touch: Add a backsplash and replace the faucet, which is two reasonably priced finishing touches. Glass-tile backsplashes are sleek and quite easy to maintain. Low-maintenance features are popular with tenants – they mean less cleaning.

Depending on the materials you select, re-skinning your kitchen could cost as little as $1000. Re-skinning means replacing the benchtops and cabinet doors, which will, at the very least, improve the look of your kitchen. Depending on your budget, you can also update the backsplash and replace the sink for a low-cost and fast kitchen makeover.

2. Remodeling the Bathroom

Many renters seek up-to-date bathrooms, so remodeling this area is paramount. Simple upgrades, like changing the toilet seat or even the entire toilet, installing a shower head, and refreshing the faucet and cabinet hardware, are some of the simplest upgrades. Make every effort to optimize the available space in a small bathroom by adding storage. Tenants will now have a functional space, which is valuable yet difficult to come by.

When renovating your bathroom, consider high-impact improvements, such as:

• Using a sliding (pocket) door.
• Transform the bathtub into a walk-in shower.
• Set up shelves to increase storage without using space.

• If there’s room, consider adding a vanity and more countertop space. For a unique touch, you can get creative by repurposing a dresser into a sink unit.

A helpful rule of thumb for renovations is to create a space that makes a good first impression and requires inexpensive and low maintenance so that neither you nor the tenant will need to invest too much time.

Also, consider investing in an architect at the beginning to give you some ideas about how to make the best use of space and light, the structure, door openings, staircases, etc.

3. Floors

According to a survey, hardwood is the most popular material for replacing old floors. This is due to its modern look and ease of maintenance. Contrariwise, because carpet requires more upkeep and might retain odors, it is not usually preferred in rental apartments.

When improving your rental property, replace the floors last. Installing floors toward the end helps preserve their best appearance because other projects will create a lot of dirt and dust. If the old carpet needs to be replaced, do it to attract tenants. Even better, consider hardwood or laminate instead of carpet.

4. Easy Fixes

These are a few quick fixes that will instantly lift the vibe of your rental home.

Keep the walls neutral to give prospective tenants a blank canvas to work with. If the tenant has a preferred color for a room, an accent wall, or the entire interior, you may also offer to paint the walls the tenant’s choice of color.

To modernize the space and brighten the rooms, install new light fixtures. Quick and straightforward fixes also include updating blinds, door knobs, and cabinet handles.

5. Open Floor Plan

If you have the time and resources to do so, take down some walls to make more room. Open floor plans are fashionable and will give the property a bigger, lighter vibe. Adding more windows will make the interior appear larger and bring in much more light.

6. Popular Amenities

What distinguishes your rental home from those of other landlords? These extra amenities will increase the property’s worth, help you fill vacancies, and perhaps even allow you to increase the rent.

Appliances: Anything that can make a tenant’s life more convenient, like adding a dishwasher, won’t go unnoticed. Air conditioning is a major plus. A recent survey found that 77% of tenants wouldn’t consider renting a place without an in-unit washing and dryer.

Storage space: Everyone dreams of a large bespoke closet, so if your apartment has the space, remodeling the closet will enhance tenants’ quality of life and raise the value of your home.

Off-street parking: Having a driveway or carport, especially in crowded locations, can greatly help entice a potential tenant.

Why Renovating Your Property Attracts More Tenants?

Here’s why you might want to consider renovating your property to attract more tenants and, in turn, increase your income and make ROI.

1. Renovating your property will differentiate it from competitors. Also, investing a bit more in an apartment appearance could give you the opportunity to raise the monthly rent.

2. Installing energy-efficient windows and a smart thermostat can lower tenants’ utility costs, which is always a bonus.

3. Upgrading the available amenities of your unit can also raise its market value when you resell an apartment.

4. Providing modern, high-end appliances, updated countertops, or other improvements not only offers a better living experience for renters but also reduces maintenance needs. Enriching tenants’ satisfaction leads to a likelihood of their lease renewal.

5. If you’re simply maintaining your rental, any expenses you pay for the repairs can probably be subtracted from the property’s taxable revenue.

Decision-making and sourcing are time-consuming processes. Never underestimate that. Prior to beginning your renovation, make as many decisions as you can. It will help you stay on time and within your budget! Unexpected costs will pop up, so be prepared. Just in case, set aside about 10-20% of your budget for unforeseen expenses.

Remember, thoughtful planning and prep are key to a smooth renovation.