Preparing for yearly regular upgrades to your single-family rental home is a good investment strategy. As much as rental homes require regular maintenance, they must also be updated for them to remain current and competitive in the market. Property values in and around Milwaukee are extremely reliant on the internal and external condition of the home, which is why investing a bit to upgrade certain components from time to time is worth the cost and the time needed.
Then again, not all upgrades offer direct benefits for property owners. In actuality, some upgrades provide distinct advantages for the residents but don’t really elevate the overall property value or safeguard your real estate investment. It’s essential to weigh your options thoroughly before making any huge updates to your rental property in Milwaukee.
For instance, installing new kitchen cabinets in your rental properties may feel like an upgrade that would benefit both you and your residents. Your residents will love quality cabinets, and you might think that new cabinets would maintain the increase in property values. However, kitchen cabinets are one upgrade that isn’t typically worth the cost, with whatever possible value increase often less than what was spent on the project. If the kitchen cabinets in your rental are really worse for wear, you should absolutely replace them with something better. Otherwise, all your cabinets need to stay fresh is a good cleaning or perhaps a coat of paint or stain.
Yet another upgrade that has a lot more benefits for the residents than for the owner of a rental home is high-end window treatments. You may have residents asking for upgraded blinds, valences, or drapery systems to personalize their space. Then again, while owners expect residents to feel comfortable in a rental home, there’s no actual benefit to having any window treatments beyond standard blinds or shutters. Lavish window treatments don’t really boost the overall value of your property and are so strongly connected to an individual style that they rarely have widespread appeal.
Talking about personal style, other decorative features like trendy paint colors, custom garage doors, and so on might seem like a good way to attract quality residents, but much like window treatments, the appeal of decorative features can vary so much between people. Because of this, upgrading beyond good quality, simple doors, windows, and interiors has little to no benefit to property owners. For a quality rental home with lasting appeal, avoid the latest trends and stick to the less exciting but definitely more reliable décor themes that are commonly seen in other rental homes.
Whether you’ve made upgrades or not, rental property maintenance should always be a priority so as to maintain value. At Real Property Management Greater Milwaukee, we are committed to protecting your investment while forging great relationships with your residents. For more information about our property management services, please contact us online or call us directly at 262-309-6961.
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