Preparing for yearly upgrades to your single-family rental home is a wise investment strategy. As much as rental homes need routine maintenance, they must also be updated to stay modern and competitive in the market. Property values in and around Brandywine are heavily dependent on the internal and external conditions of the home, which is why investing a little to upgrade some components from time to time is worth the cost and the time required.
Still, not all upgrades have direct benefits for property owners. Some upgrades have distinct advantages for residents but do not really boost the overall property value or secure your real estate investment. You must wisely consider your options before significantly updating your Brandywine rental property.
For example, updating your rental home with new kitchen cabinets will benefit both you and your tenants. Your tenants will appreciate good cabinets, and you may think that adding new cabinets would continue to raise the value of your home. On the other hand, kitchen cabinets are one update that is typically not worth the money because the prospective value gain is typically smaller than the initial cost. If your rental home’s kitchen cabinets are in really poor condition, you should replace them with nicer ones. Other than that, all your cabinets really need to look beautiful is a good cleaning and maybe a coat of paint or stain.
Another upgrade that benefits the residents more than the rental homeowner is high-end window treatments. Your residents might ask for upgraded blinds, valences, or drapery systems to personalize their space. However, while owners want residents to be comfortable in a rental home, there’s no real benefit to providing window treatments past standard blinds or shutters. Extravagant window treatments don’t add much to the overall value of your property and are so intensely tied to an individual style that they typically don’t have widespread appeal.
Talking about personal style, other decorative details like custom garage doors, trendy paint colors, and so on might appear to be a good means of bringing in quality residents, but like window treatments, the appeal of decorative features can differ a lot from person to person. For this reason, upgrading past good quality, simple doors, windows, and interiors barely benefits property owners. To have a great home with lasting appeal, avoid the latest trends and opt for the less exciting but completely more reliable décor themes usually found in other rental homes.
Whether you’ve made upgrades or not, rental property maintenance must always be a priority to maintain value. At Real Property Management Gold, we are dedicated to securing your investment while developing great relationships with your residents. For further information about our property management services, please contact us online or call us directly at 301-392-2172.
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