How nice are your units??

[Norm Chrostowski]

I just completed re-habbing my upper unit in my duplex. Turned out really nice. Most who came to look at it said it's the nicest they've seen. Hence it rented in 4 days. I do just about everything myself, so I save a ton in labor costs. If there's something I can't/won't do I'm lucky enough to have a little team of friends who do it on the cheap for me.

I know MikeOH says he is responsible to supply a clean, safe place to live, and I agree. But at the same time I'm not sure what that means exactly. I walk into houses that I'm looking at as possible investments, and I see old wood paneling, old wood or worse yet, metal cabinets, dated bathrooms, etc...I don't want to put a zillion dollars into these, but I don't want to be considered a "slumlord" either. Where do you draw the line?

I feel sometimes I'm passing on these houses because "in my mind" there's too much work to do. Should I overlook some of this stuff, and look at it as strictly a cashflow thing? Basically "it's not about pride of ownership, it's about cashflow"

I think my apartment rented so quickly because it stands out. There's a lot of these homes where my duplex is located that I think would be great investmnets from a cashflow standpoint, but need, again, "in my mind" to much work. This is a lower income area, but home price remain relatively low (25k-40k) and rents are still pretty stable ($375-$550). My standards are obviously a bit higher, but maybe I need a "standard" adjustment?

Are these "dated qualities" acceptable to all the other landlords out there? I hope I'm making sense.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

Norm