New to the BP! Rental rehab question. New doors/trim or paint?

[Benjamin E.]

Hi All,

New to BP! Would appreciate yoir thoughts. Second multi-unit, first real rehab. 100k budget and 70k in. So I have a three flat that I have been rehabbing from top to bottom. Got a ton of major repairs done already (new plumbing, gutted basement, new fence, roof, chimney work, concrete work/sidewalks, parking, new yard, etc. Am through one unit already, but when I got to the second and third units I realized that they were in much worse shape than I originally thought. I am up to about 17k per unit. This includes all new kitchens (able to salvage cabinets), bathrooms, appliances, painting, hardwood floors (refinish where possible replace when carpets existed), etc. My main contractor wants me to rip out and replace all the doors (8 of them) and surrounding trim, as well as take out the crown molding and baseboards which are very old, outdated and caked with layers of paint. The door frames are also 1-2 inches off the frame. I.e. - crooked. This is a very old Chicago brick three-flat. He wants $3,500 for each unit to do this extra work. Question is, is it worth doing? Originally we had agreed on sanding and painting it all. Attached are some photos. Thoughts? I think it would of coursr look great newly framed and leveled, but as these are rentals and everything else will be new and/or updated, is it necessary to do this? 20% more per unit for this seems like a lot, and I am not sure that a renter will a) care about this compared to all the other work that has been done b) take care of it, meaning it will just need cleaning up/repairing down the road c) pay any more on the rent over what I will be expecting to rent the units out for ($1300-$1400). Lastly, I was also trying to look at this from an appraisal value approach, but don't know if I will necessarily get a return on the appraised value from an appraiser. I plan on holding and renting, and not selling. The appraisal would only be done for an equity line down the road. Thoughts? Not sure if I mentioned it, but the molding and baseboards are plaster. Thanks so much.