Home Renovation Q&A: Permits, Building a Scope of Work, & Managing Renovations

BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast

BiggerPockets

Education, Business, Investing

4.8 • 16.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Does your rental property need some updating? Maybe you’re buying a house with unpermitted work, and you’ve got to go back and fix a few problems. Or, this could be your first home renovation as you try to squeeze some sweat equity out of your property. Regardless of your situation, if you’re planning a home renovation, you’ll need to know how to do a few things: build a scope of work, pull permits, manage contractors, and ensure the job is actually getting done. We’ll help you do all of those today! We’re taking questions from the BiggerPockets Forums today and answering topics like: What to do when your home has unpermitted renovations How to analyze your first rental property or house hack How to build a scope of work to ensure you get the HIGHEST appraisal value The best way to check in on renovations, especially if you’re investing out-of-state Some of these seem tricky if you’re a first-time investor, but don’t worry, ANYONE (even a newbie) can handle a home renovation IF you take the right steps and follow our suggestions. In This Episode We Cover: Should you EVER buy a house with unpermitted renovations? And how to get permits retroactively How to analyze your first rental property (or house hack) to make sure it’ll pencil out Building a scope of work (SOW) so you have a bullet-proof renovation plan How to check in on your home renovation if you’re investing from a distance The one contract contingency to add IF you’re worried about renovations the seller made And So Much More! Links from the Show Join BiggerPockets for FREE Let Us Know What You Thought of the Show! Ask Your Question on the BiggerPockets Forums BiggerPockets YouTube Apply to Be a BiggerPockets Real Estate Guest Get Early Bird Tickets to BPCon2025 ($100 Off!) BiggerPockets Real Estate 1103 - April 2025 “Upside” Update: Making a BIG Change to My Portfolio (Cashing Out) Real Price of Gold Try REsimpli, The Only All-In-One Real Estate Investor CRM Software That Helps You Manage Data, Marketing, Sales, and Operations BiggerPockets Forums BiggerPockets Calculators BiggerPockets Market Finder Real Estate Rookie Podcast Resource Hub Maximize Your Real Estate Investing with a Self-Directed IRA from Equity Trust Ask Your Question on the BiggerPockets Forums Ready for Your First Home Renovation? Grab “The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs” Sign Up for the BiggerPockets Real Estate Newsletter Find an Investor-Friendly Agent in Your Area How to Renovate a House—Whether You’re Renting, Flipping, or Moving In Connect with Ashley Connect with Dave Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1107 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You have questions, and we have answers. We found three real estate investing topics burning
0:06.0	up the Bigger Pockets forums and creating so much hot debate that we had to weigh in. Whether
0:12.3	you're just starting out or already have a mature portfolio, stay tuned to learn from the experts.
0:22.6	Hey friends, Dave Meyer here.
0:24.6	Today on the show, we are answering your questions.
0:27.8	Ashley Care is here with me, and we dug into the bigger pockets forums and found a few
0:32.0	trending topics we wanted to weigh in on.
0:34.3	We'll talk about whether it's ever a good idea to buy a property that's
0:37.7	not properly permitted, how to analyze a house hack deal so you buy your first property
0:42.4	right. We'll also talk about estimating a scope of work for your first rehab and how to manage
0:47.0	a renovation project if you're investing long distance. Ashley, I know these topics are right
0:52.1	in your wheelhouse. Are you ready? Yeah, I am. This is like I'm
0:55.8	taking a quiz here, getting grilled on my rookie knowledge. Yeah, well, we are going to be grading you at
1:01.0	the end. So, all right, let's get into our first question, which actually is doubling up your alley,
1:06.1	because it comes from someone on the forums who is in upstate New York. I know you're technically in Western New York.
1:12.2	I want to properly recognize.
1:14.0	But this question comes from Roman, who's operating, again, in upstate New York.
1:19.6	Roman says, I found a good multifamily home in upstate.
1:23.0	It's a legal two unit that can cash flow $900 a month in an economically growing area. However, the
1:30.1	house has had a new kitchen and bathroom put in without permits. This was done two owners ago,
1:36.3	and the current owner has been renting the property without issue for seven years. If I brought
1:41.1	the property, I'd want to retroactively permit the work and get the house up to code.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BiggerPockets, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BiggerPockets and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.