How much should I invest in improving a rental property?

[Steve S.]

As some of you may recall, I'm buying the house I grew up in as my first rental property. My parents have taken good care of it but it's a 38 year old house. They've been empty nesting for about 12 years. That said, there's little things here and there that, if I were selling it, I would certainly fix. However, since I'm going to be renting it, should I invest the time and money into doc long it up to the same level? For example, it was probably painted about 11 years ago. If I were selling it, I would paint it. Should I paint it for a tenant? Other things are on the outside of the house that could have some wood replaced here and there. Roof was replaced about 7 years ago. It's a 30 year roof. So my questions are more general in nature about how much to pour into something that someone is probably not goi g to take as good a care of if they owned it. Another argument would be to fix it up that way when they leave I know exactly what they destroyed and can keep some of there security deposit.