Preparing for yearly regular upgrades to your single-family rental home is a wise investment strategy. As much as rental homes need routine maintenance, they also need to be updated for them 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. In actuality, some upgrades have distinct advantages for residents but not really boosting the overall property value or securing your real estate investment. You need to wisely consider your options before doing significant updates on your Brandywine rental property.
For instance, installing new kitchen cabinets in your rental properties might seem like an upgrade that would benefit both you and your residents. Your residents are going to enjoy good cabinets, and you might believe that new cabinets would keep elevating your property values. However, kitchen cabinets are one upgrade that isn’t usually worth the cost, because any potential increase in value is usually less than what you’ve spent on them. If the kitchen cabinets in your rental are really in bad shape, you should definitely replace them with something better. Other than that, a good cleaning or perhaps a coat of paint or stain is really all your cabinets need to keep them looking good.
Another upgrade that benefits the residents more than the rental homeowner is high-end window treatments. Your residents might be asking 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 any 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 benefit property owners. To have a great rental 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 in order 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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