Can you imagine living in a home without a doorknob? Doorknobs are crucial in making you feel that your family is safe in your house. Home buyers also feel the same. That is why if they feel that the doorknob you installed seems substandard, they feel that they need to replace it. They’ll also feel in a way that the house is not in a “move in” condition. Now you see that small details indeed matter in a home rehab.

Rehabbing homes requires paying attention to these minute but important details. And to make sure you don’t forget about doorknobs, here are some notes about them. These are merely reminders. It’s good if you know just so you can remind your contractor in case he forgets them. You can also use them as a guide if you’re installing doorknobs on your own.

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If there’s a part of the house that usually costs a lot to rehab apart from the kitchen, it would be the bathroom. Making sure that bathrooms are dead gleaming and attractive is simply SOP when doing a fix and flip. That is why real estate rehabbers often spend a lot of money on this room; some investors even install new cabinetry. There are basically two types of bathroom cabinets and you can choose from these types when you flip a house.

But before you even shop for new cabinetry, which could be pretty expensive, make sure first that you indeed need to install them in the bathrooms. Will simple refinishing do? Most baths would do with the usual vanity cabinets, eliminating the need for wall cabinets. If you feel that they are necessary, especially if the vanity type doesn’t provide enough storage space, and they won’t cram the room, then choose from these two types.

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Part of every rehabber’s holding costs is heating. Although it’s typically a small amount, those who rehab homes in colder parts of the country would have to pay bigger bills, especially when their doing a project in winter months. You can continue house rehabbing in colder months but without the heating bill headaches. Practice these simple tips and what do you know, you might just save a few dollars and use the money for repairs.

If it’s a brick or vintage house, chances are it has an old-school fireplace. If you’re house rehabbing the interiors and you aren’t actually using the traditional furnace, be sure to seal the chimney. The damper seal should be closed if no fire is on. Leaving it open is like having a huge window open. Some 24,000 cubic feet of warm air escapes from the interiors to the exteriors through Santa Claus’s entryway, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Energy.

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House rehabbers regard bathrooms as one of the most important areas. They spend a significant portion of the rehab budget in this part of the house. After all, baths can often make or break home sales. That is why a lot of investors who are into the flipping property business procrastinate when making bathroom upgrades. To get some ideas, here are some simple bathroom improvements you can do.

1. Remember those little details. Perhaps one of the simplest but most effective bang for buck repairs is installing a tower bar and bathrobe hooks. Towel bars and hooks are very cheap and come in a variety of models. They are also very easy to install, often needing just a set of screws. Small details like these are actually very helpful when flipping properties.

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We now continue with the enumeration of some of the common types of windows in American homes. The first portion of this two-part flipping homes article touched on double hung, horizontal slider, awning, hopper, and casement types. In this part, we’ll tackle other types that you are likely to encounter as a rehabber.

The first type, and probably the one you looked for in the first part, is jalousie. This type is also called louvers and is easily distinguishable. It’s made of several slats, usually glass but in some cases wood, set in clips. They can be closed with one lever attached to the metal clip. When flipping homes in Florida or other sub-tropical areas, jalousie windows are perfect because they are good for ventilation. On the contrary, they are not ideal for rehab projects in very cold areas.

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Windows are considered the “eyes” of a house. In children’s drawings, notice that the façade of a house often looks like a face with the window representing the eyes and the door the lips. Won’t you like beautiful eyes for the property you’re rehabbing? Of course you would. That is why when flipping homes, you should know what types of windows are commonly found in American properties.

When you know the various types if windows, repairing and rehabbing the house will be easier. Determine what type of window that is and you’ll know its purpose and use. One you know its purpose, you’ll be able to determine whether you need to just clean that window or replace it totally. For instance, if the specific window is used as an emergency escape, you must make sure that its hinges are working properly. If that window is simple there to provide extra natural lighting, you can opt for fixed types.

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This article continues what was started in Part 1. In this installment, we’ll discuss more on how to repair shellac damages on woodwork. Especially found on vintage homes, this finish is unique as it simple dissolves onto the existing shellac coat. Before we proceed to solving your flipping home problem, let’s have a little recap of what Part 1 discussed.

In the first portion of this two-part guide, we started by verifying whether the finish is indeed shellac. After determining the finish using the “dabbing” experiment, the affected area will be cleaned for optimum adhesion. Then, the rough parts will be softened and wiped off. This flip houses activity continues with sanding.

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So you’re dealing with a beautiful vintage home. You slowly thread the stairs with your hand caressing the smooth shellac railings. Then you suddenly feel something rough. It’s a small damage on the shellac finish of the handrail. Probably damaged by rain or the kids, it’s a spot that made the whole piece otherwise perfect. Now your flipping home comes to a start, you fear that you may have to refinish the whole staircase right? If so, rehab houses would be such a pain.

Actually, you can repair that little spot and spare yourself from all the trouble of having to strip the existing coat, sand, prime, sand again, and apply a new finish. As a rehabber, you simply don’t have time for this much work. And remember, we want to do as little as possible to rehab houses. So if you’re faced with early 20th-century hardwood floors, wooden wall and ceiling paneling, and staircases, it’s likely that you will be shellacking.

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What better way to spice up a dull spacey kitchen than to install a kitchen island. As rehabbers, we often try to avoid as major repairs and that is understandable. But if space, time, and money allow it, installing a kitchen island is a good way to please your prospect home buyers.  Here are some reasons why home buyers love a kitchen island why you should consider installing one when you rehab houses.

When home buyers inspect the kitchen of a rehab home, they try to compare it with their existing kitchen. What they notice first is that the rehabbed version is more spacious, and that’s a good thing. While it is wide, it is natural for home buyers to look for more storage space. It’s just human nature. That’s where the kitchen island comes in the picture. One of the major roles of this piece is to augment storage space in the kitchen. In fact, they can increase storage space by up to 25% in most cases.

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For rehabbing to work, an investor must be able to find the perfect property to fix up and resell. If you want to know how to flip a house, you better learn first what house you should flip, as they say. While there are literally millions of properties for sale in the market today, fixer upper homes seem to be the standout. These are rundown properties that may or may not be occupied. They require some repairs and most home buyers will find them unattractive and even scary, but for home rehab investors, these are “diamonds in the rough.”

Here are some helpful tips when looking for fixer upper homes.

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