Chad Schieler

Case Study: Wedgewood Commons | Columbus, IN

This property was acquired in March of 2022, our 3rd acquisition. We applied what we learned on the first two projects, and it paid off.

Going into this project, we had a great feeling we would outperform. As always, we still built in several layers of conservativeness and understated the projected returns.

High-Level Business Plan Summary:

Acquired a well-maintained asset in a solid location
Exterior Improvements and resolved deferred maintenance
Interior Unit renovations (came in under budget)
Applied premium property management

Renovation & Improvement Scope:

Neutral Painted Doors, New signage,
Added Landscaping, Seal/Stripe Parking Lots
Replaced Mailbox Sets
Updated all Electrical Panels and circuit breakers to bring up to code
Added Roof vents for proper ventilation
Interior Renovation Scope:
- (3-Units) Added New Laundry Closet with stackable washer/dryer and necessary connections
- Two-toned paint on walls, trim, and doors
- Installed LVP Flooring on first level, and upstairs bathroom
- Installed new Plumbing fixtures and LED lighting fixtures
- Installed Codelocks for ease of management
- Installed new carpet where needed
- Replaced HVAC/Furnaces where needed

Lessons Learned:

Don’t over improve the units. We tested out adding the laundry closet to 3 units initially and achieved the rents we wanted. Then we tested 2 more units without the laundry, and it resulted in the same rents. We ended up doing the remainder of the unit renovations for our business plan without the addition of the laundry closet which saved thousands of dollars per unit.
Know your tenant base and what they desire. Our tenants here just wanted a clean, safe, quiet place to live without any of the fancy stuff. We quickly realized that we did not need to do an extensive renovation to the interiors as some markets might demand.