Building an Apartment out of Living Rooms – Complete! The Before and After! – Landlording TV -#27

The second apartment is finally finished and was also rented before completion in mid-december!!!! Once again we focused on cutting costs without compromising quality, or layout. We avoided corners in the kitchen to help minimize the cabinets needed to purchase and switched to white prebuilt cabinets from maple (resulting in 30% less expenses). We refinished the hardwood floors by PAINTING them ($22 TOTAL)!!! I couldn’t be happier with the way this apartment turned out!

Landlord Lessons:

• Cut costs without compromising quality or your layout. We saved at least $1,000 by reconfiguring our kitchen alone!
• The hardwood floors look very chic and couldn’t possibly have been done cheaper or to withstand more wear and tear! The paint we used is designed to withstand garage floors!
• Dress up the apartment by adding small touches. With just $20, we dressed up our kitchen by simply adding cabinet door hardware from IKEA.
• DO spend extra money where it adds exponentially more value. (It doesn’t always pay to be cheap!) By spending an extra $65, we upgraded our shower stall to a full tub enclosure, making the bathroom, thus the apartment, MUCH more attractive.

Painting Hardwood Floors – The Before and After! Part 2 – Landlording TV -#26

Check out the amazing before and after of our hardwood floors after applying just ONE coat of floor paint! 700 square feet of hardwood floors were completely refinished for $22 in materials, and about 4 hours of labor, a new record!. This was our last night working on the apartment before it was rented out in the middle of December! 2 records in one episode!

Landlord Lessons:

• When hardwood floors are a mess and impossible to sand and refinish, PAINT them with Floor paint!

Painting Hardwood Floors and Construction Home Stretch! Part 1 – Landlording TV -#25

After making several attempts at finishing Hardwood Floors that did NOT want refinishing, we have finally found the ultimate solution: Floor paint, typically used for concrete in garages. It is designed for high traffic areas, and tint able! This was the final work weekend to finish our brand new apartment (formally the living and dining room of a much larger unit). Besides the floors, the kitchen was overhauled as well.

Landlord Lessons:

• When hardwood floors are a mess, and impossible to sand and refinish, PAINT them with Floor paint!
• Adding Trim on a standard door jam to fit 6″ walls.
• The origin of the “painted floor” in the Palma Family.

Quick Progress Report: Building an Apartment out of Living Rooms – Landlording TV – #21

Over the Thanksgiving Break, we TORE through construction on the second apartment all weekend long. This was our first night after spending all day shopping for deals. We saved over $200 on appliances thanks to the Black Friday deals, as well as crazy savings on strategically shopping for a bathroom vanity, faucets and other miscellaneous parts. We built out and plumbed our kitchen sink which will be separate How-To episodes coming out shortly!

Landlord Lessons:

• Set aside a full day for shopping for parts by comparing stores. The amount of savings you will receive is staggering.
• Take advantage of 18-24 month interest free payments; just be SURE to pay them off BEFORE the interest is accumulated and tacked on!
• Bribe family members and significant others for cheap and skilled labor! – Sell them on “working off” their holiday calories!

Today on Landlording TV, we are back in the trenches to review the blueprints on our second apartment. Apparently standing showers are big No-No’s through the eyes of a women (Who knew?)… So, for less then $200 we were able to upgrade to a full bathtub and enclosure, and make the bathroom MUCH larger (and female friendly!) without compromising too much kitchen space. We shop for deals and find TWO furnaces for $500!

Also, Justin’s OCD kicks in and reorganizes the Job Site’s Tools and Toolboxes, and learn how vital a Digital Camera is to a landlord!

This episode’s Landlord Lessons:

• Bathroom Layouts
• Stanley Tool Boxes
• Ryobi TEK4 Digital Camera

Today on Landlording TV, we are back in the trenches to finish our first day of construction on the new 2 bedroom apartment. For very little money, we add MASSIVE value to this rental by building an additional closet and Justin also shows the new Ryobi Tek 4 Lockbox and how it quickly has become an invaluable tool!

In this episode learn:

• Laying out Electrical
• Framing Closets
• The lockbox and the Landord

In this episode of Landlording TV, Justin Palma begins construction on the second 2 bedroom apartment of his once massive 4 bedroom apartment. The once dining room is now the new kitchen and bathroom, and the old living room is being updated with a front door and brand new closet.

In this episode learn:

• Framing Tips
• Electrical Roughing