In a competitive rental market, Houston property owners may oftentimes imagine that building a dream kitchen could actually help them attract higher-paying tenants. Despite the fact that the kitchen is a principal attribute of every single rental home, high-end or luxury upgrades rarely result in a higher rental rate. Unless your entire rental home is equally upgraded and in a market that can support higher rent, the more sensible option is to create a kitchen that focuses attention on less expensive and more durable elements.
Homeowners oftentimes dream of upgrading their kitchens with high-end cabinets, appliances, countertops, and flooring. Although what is usually true of expensive materials such as granite and hardwood is that they are indeed easily damaged and oftentimes exact a great deal more effort to keep and maintain. Even though a homeowner may accept such extra responsibilities that are worth having in a beautiful kitchen, a tenant often doesn’t think along the same lines. Materials that are financially excessive to repair or replace or that are easily destroyed are not effective preferences for a rental home, in part due to the fact that they increase your maintenance costs and also partly for the reason that tenants likely will not like the extra work of maintaining that level of luxury.
There are quite a lot of reasonings why creating your dream kitchen is not the best project for your rental property. Tenants are normally drawn to rental homes created to reduce the amount of upkeep needed. Conceding that even if they do still ask for quality appliances and updated features, tenants will possibly think of a high-end kitchen as more of a hassle than a bonus. Consequently, despite that you might truly believe that a high-end kitchen will allow you to charge more in rent, your tenants, on the other hand, may possibly not be too keen to pay a higher rate for that feature alone.
Some other troubles can transpire if the kitchen you are planning to remodel doesn’t match the quality of the rest of the rental property. Inconsistent upgrades could indeed be a major issue for a rental property. A home with an excellent kitchen but sadly, dingy, dated bathrooms or worn carpeting may probably raise several red flags for a prospective tenant. They could consider the rental house as an unfinished project, not a complete rental home ready to be lived in. Upgrading one room in the house also does little to increase your property values, especially if the home is not in an upscale area.
That is why instead of spending big on a high-end kitchen, think of making various simple updates. An inexpensive and durable countertop and floor, a matching set of new appliances, and some new fixtures could convert and make an older kitchen feel fresh and modern. Worn cabinets may generally be painted or resurfaced to result in a totally different look and design for a fraction of the cost and will quickly bring a dated kitchen into the present. Even really small components such as a new light fixture and drawer pulls can amazingly bring on elegance and a fresh feeling to a room. Best of all, you won’t lose peace of mind and waste time worrying whether your tenant will cause financially wasteful devastation to your expensive tile, stainless steel appliances, or granite countertops.
Long story short, unless you have the necessary budget to install high-end upgrades of consistent style and excellence all throughout the whole investment property, the better course of action is to focus on quality mid-range improvements. However, it could be difficult to grasp which upgrades will add value to your rental property and correspond to rent increases. Why not get the professional Houston property managers at Real Property Management Avitus to help guide you in this venture? Our industry expertise and efficiency, as well as some of the best remodeling contractors, could really help you discover the effective practices to upgrade your rental property to achieve the best of your rental rates and increase your property values. Contact us or call us at 281-570-6357 for more valuable information.
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