Average SFR for the neighborhood or All ready rehabbed for Buy and Hold

[Chris T.]

I am currently looking into a few properties that are all in the same neighborhood for a Buy and Hold property. There are a few houses that have already been rehabbed (some by owners others flipped by investors) that are about $10-20K more than average condition homes (on $100-120K houses). These houses have granite in the kitchens and new bathrooms along with new HVAC systems.

My question is would it be better to buy the already rehabbed property knowing that I am paying for the extra work and upgrades with the hope for attracting quality tenants faster as well as reduced maintance/repairs? I am not in the position to buy a fixer upper as I travel with work and am a part time REI. In looking at the numbers the the additional rent needed to cover the upgraded houses would still be within the recent rental comps but towards the upper end.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? What route did you choose? Does the nicer condition/features of a rehabbed home present bigger problems for long term upkeep compared to more "average" homes?