Improvements to rental units

[Wesley W.]

Hi all,

We have a growing portfolio of small multi family properties in a nearby city.  The area has been historically blue collar, but is experiencing some gentrification in recent years.  These particular buildings have units that typically rent between $650 and $900 to give a frame of reference.

We just closed on another building this week that is largely vacant, so we're looking to make some improvements to these units in order to improve the quality of tenants in the building.  I've read that one should make the condition of a unit congruent with the quality of tenant desired. 

On a limited budget, I'm struggling with over improvement versus leaving it too "dated/tired" and attracting the wrong crowd.  I asked my contractor what he would do as he is also a landlord, but I see his advice as not completely objective as he is spending someone else's money by creating work for himself.

I called one of the big PMs in the area and asked her if she would be willing to avail her skill set, and she gave us a price of $500 for the 3 units.  I'm not against someone leveraging their ability/experience to supplement their income, but I thought that was a bit steep.

I was envisioning someone that could walk through and point out a few things that would be required updates/improvements and others that would be optional: "if you do this, you might be able to get another $25 per month, but it wouldn't be a turn off to most tenants" kinda thing.

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with three units empty, so I want to make sure my time and money are spent as efficiently as possible.  I'm not sure if I am conveying my question in just the right way, but hopefully I'm being clear enough to get some good feedback.

Thank you in advance for sharing your collective wisdom and experience.