What Should You Improve In Your Minneapolis Duplex?

June 26th, 2009 categories: Home Repair

One of the challenges facing many duplex and single family home buyers in today’s foreclosure-laden real estate market is that many of these properties havea significant amount of deferred maintenance.

And it’s tempting, regardless of the type of property purchased, to “Pimp My Ride” with every conceivable improvement featured on HGTV or in the aisles of Home Depot.

Before you max out your credit cards, spend all of your $8000 first time home buyer tax credit or burn through your 203(k) construction loan, it’s important to stop and think who you’re improving the property for, and just what your return on those expenditures will be.

Just as improving a kitchen or adding landscaping increases the value of  a single family home, upgrades to duplexes do as well.  Before you start putting granite countertops in your rental units, however, it’s important to ask yourself a couple of questions.

First, if your intention is to ultimately sell the property, think about who your eventual buyer might be. Is your property one that lends itself to an owner occupant? To answer this, simply ask yourself whether you would live there.

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