I have made some upgrades since living here, fully renovated the bathroom and laundry room, upgraded appliances, added a tankless hot water heater, and replaced all galv. pipe with pex.

You can upgrade your membership and get leases per state here on BP.

If the "improved the property" was something like a new roof, or a new furnace, then those long term upgrades get added to the basis of the house and then must get depreciated over many years.

They have had windows replaced, electric upgrades and other nifty fixes done by previous owners.The older homes often have much nicer yards and are often really strongly built.

My mortgage is very low and I have just remodeled the kitchen and remaining upgrades will cost less than $5k.

The above input about VB's being the easy solution is true, but this is one of those cases where the minor effort to upgrade can be well worth it....

Adding units usually means upgrading to sprinkler lines. 

The home was not insured for replacement cost, but we managed to have it rebuilt with the necessary upgrades.

Will be upgrading soon but it’s been an awesome journey.  

Pex should be considered an upgrade.