What is the most underrated way to gain value in real estate?
/Every investor has a thing. Some people are into backsplash. Some investors paint front doors. Others are obsessed with the bathroom.
I am obsessed with the extra bedroom. Long-term AND short-term rentals. The extra room is a total game-changer for demand and value for your property.
I kid you not, we have created millions in equity value in the addition of extra bedrooms. The best part is that you dont need to be a world famous designer or architect to do this too. Three easy ways to add extra rooms:
Option 1 - I love to find a room that isn’t creating much value. At one of our short-term rentals, there were two first floor rooms that didn’t make sense. The library and work shed became two extra bedrooms. Nobody is going to a high end rental to use a work shed! At Bohemia Manor Farm, we turned the walk-in closet into a 4-bed bunk room!
Option 2 - Add an extra wall to turn one room into two bedrooms. At our 15 unit building, we had a bunch of extra large one bedroom apartments. We literally added a wall with a door to turn them into 2 bedroom units. This $1K change immediately created $150 in extra monthly rent AND more demand as well. In one of our short-term rentals, we added a wall to turn the extra large master bedroom into two rooms.
Option 3 – Find a space where a low cost addition can add an extra room. My favorite example of this is at our high-end rental where we turned a garden into a really awesome bedroom. The garden was never used by anyone because it was overlooking the wrong part of the property. For $15K, we added a small roof / siding / min-split to make a killer extra bedroom.
Extra bonus – This same concept applies to commercial space as well. Post covid, there is more demand than ever for office space in a closed room. Add extra small offices to your commercial building and you can create immediate added value.
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