I will second @John Chapman on this one, although others have a good point too. You don't want to overimprove. But to me, this means you don't want to make marginal improvements that aren't worth all the added financial - direct and indirect costs. One of my first real estate agents (back when I used one) taught me a lot about "pride of ownership" and what kind of tenants you get, especially in lower-income areas.
I have received significantly higher monthly rents, and better-quality tenants than the average tenant in my lower-income neighborhood in the Bay Area. There's not only the increased revenue. But I think over the longer-term, I'll see less turnover, shorter vacancies when I do turn over (2 days vacancy on last unit turnover b/c I worked with the tenants to show the unit in their last month), less volatile tenants that can cause damage/eviction costs, etc. Plus less headaches for me since I landlord all my properties.
I also agree that having at least one nice feature helps get the unit rented. One of my rehabbed units had a beautiful tiled shower before I started. The other had a vanity needing replacing, so I shelled out an extra $80 for a nicer-than-neighborhood espresso vanity and medicine cabinet. I always put nice-looking vases I got for nothing at goodwill with fresh flowers from the property/neighborhood in them, in the kitchen and bathroom, as a finishing touch.
One woman fell in love with the bathroom with the shower and not having tenants below in case of noise w/ child (garage below). Another fell in love with the vanity and mirror setup in bathroom and big closet in master in the other unit. Both smelled the flowers in the vases. But the upgrade costs practically nothing relative to the benefit in this case.. Countertop upgrades, laminate vs carpet, buying nicer used appliances rather than crappy cheap new ones (if you already have to replace these..) can all make sense IMHO.
