His 2/1 rental had granite, wood floors, oversize tile and stainless steel appliances.

It was approx $85 sq ft w/o lot. 2500 sq ft 4br 3 ba, travertine, granite and all the niceness.

Ive seen many of the slightly upscale rooms using slab granite even for tub surrounds..

Tire store, granite dealer, car parts, car wash, and a laundromat are the neighbors.  

I recommend granite countertops or a high end composite. 

Installing all new mechanicals hardwood, 2 bathrooms with low-mid finishes, batt insulation, $5k kitchen plus granite, new appliances, misc framing changes and a foundation repair.

How do you guys decide when it's worth it to put granite countertops in the kitchen and when it simply won't pay off for the rentals?

If you're not familiar with it, it's a concrete overlay system that looks like granite.

That being said, although this came in under our normal budget, our window budget was more (some casements instead of hung), our railings were expensive (custom welded), quartz counters ran about 10/ft more than our granite, etc. 

Get a granite guy in and install a nice mantle.