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Landlording & Rental Properties

Upgrades Vs Home Improvements In Low Income Rentals

Lisa Phillips
Expertise: Landlording & Rental Properties, Personal Development
20 Articles Written

This is part 2 of the series, “I’m not going to live there so I’m not going to pay for ______.”

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As new investors, especially in low income neighborhoods there is a mindset that some people suffer from called the “I’m not going to live here” mindset.

There can be times when it comes to spending money on a renovation, where this is a perfectly valid mindset but many times it can lead new investors to giving a subpar renovation, thus attracting subpar tenants.

Related: Have Some Pride in Your Low Income Rentals!

Part 2 of the series focuses on some strategic times when this mindset can do more harm than good when it comes to capital repairs and how resetting your mindset to view every expenditure through defraying long term maintenance costs and protecting your asset, should be the ultimate determining factor for what to spend your money on for renovations, especially for buy and hold investors.

By Lisa Phillips
Lisa Phillips is an REI coach that exclusively advises everyday investors on how to cash in on working class neighborhoods for higher profits wi...
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    Eric
    Replied over 6 years ago
    I agree. Any maintenance being deferred that causes additional costs, you need to at least stop the damage. I generally do not do low income, but “Industrial Strength but cheap” is a good plan to have. Tile is an example of that… I do a lot of preventative maintenance in my own rentals, because I can do it on my schedule, not when it breaks. Everything should function, at least the way it was when the renter looked at it.
    Lisa Phillips
    Replied over 6 years ago
    This may be obvious to more experienced investors, but I cringe when repairs like this don’t look at the capital improvement to their investment, and only at the fact they’re not going to live there, so they are not going to spend any more money. Thank you, Eric!
    Eric
    Replied over 6 years ago
    I agree. Any maintenance being deferred that causes additional costs, you need to at least stop the damage. I generally do not do low income, but “Industrial Strength but cheap” is a good plan to have. Tile is an example of that… I do a lot of preventative maintenance in my own rentals, because I can do it on my schedule, not when it breaks. Everything should function, at least the way it was when the renter looked at it.
    Mark AW
    Replied over 6 years ago
    Lisa, Is there any way to add a transcript below the video? Thanks, Mark
    Lisa Phillips
    Replied over 6 years ago
    Hi There! I have used the closed captioning on Youtube, and it is excellent. You can run it and it does a great job of clearly getting every word, real time. Transcription services are a great thing, but I have to rely on the Closed Captions for now. I really hope that helps,

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