How much should I renovate a rental property?

[Nathan Park]

I am about to buy a SFH to rent out. It is a bit dated and will need some work to look ready for future tenants. However, I am struggling to understand what work is worth my time and money. Do you guys have any advice on what is too much vs what is too little in terms of renovation?

[George Azita]

We renovate every rental unit 100% so when tenants move out the only thing we need to do is clean, paint and then we can get a new tenant in within a few days.

We don't want to do a partial renovation where we have some major repair or partial renovation to do every time a tenant moves. For example, we don't want to renovate the kitchen and then have to renovate a bathroom then next time a tenant moves.

When we renovate units we try to renovate them so they last the rest of our natural life. Everything wears out, but when we install 100% wood kitchen cabinets vs. crap and we install cabinets where we can easily change the faces then we don't have to worry about ripping the entire kitchen apart down the road. We always make sure the electric wiring, drains, sewers and water pipes are copper or PEX (polyethylene) so we don't have to do major plumbing repairs down the road.

We never install dishwashers and never install garbage disposers in our units and this save everyone a lot of time and money down the road.