My personal experience too and this is for those that do not plan on owning them forever and willing them to your kids or next of kin at a stepped up basis.but for those like me that were thinking hey I will own these 7 to 10 years take the write offs then sell retail..I did all that sold retail but what I was not thinking about is that a 10 to 14 year old home even though I bought them brand new.. to sell retail   what was acceptable when I bought them  tile counter tops  black appliances etc etcnow retail buyers standard is granite stainless  new paint 3 colors floors perfect etc etc.so it was costing me 20 to 25k per home to do a retail up grade to sell them for retail prices.. along with cap ex ( which in my case was minimal) since these were only 10 to 14 years old.. but then roofs being replaced because of hail that cost deductible.. and so on and so forth.. the cost of owning and keeping these nice is just more than you can raise rents in most markets.. that's my experience I got top rents in the day but they never went up much during the 10 to 14 years of  ownership.. just like I see modest type rentals that rent for 700 to 900 those rents have stayed pretty constant for the last 20 years .. and prices to fix stuff has gone way up.. 

New mechanicals, new roofs, tile in all bathrooms/kitchens, granite counter tops, hardwood floors, huge walk-in closets, laundry rooms, open floor plans, new siding, new windows, spray foam insulation.

I plan on adding granite countertop as I have a great granite guy that can install it for less than 2 grand, all in. 

If you do a high end finish (i.e. granite counters, tile showers/tub surrounds, hard wood flooring etc) you can pay more that that.

The area has gentrified a bit more and now resurfaced counter tops are not enough to compete anymore as their competitors are getting granite.

Over the past fifteen years I got new siding,  a new deck and new front porch,  new marble flooring,  new tile flooring,  a new roof,  new front bay window,  some other new windows,  paint, new sink, stove,  hardware in kitchen, and a basement bathroom with granite floor. 

A friend of mine has several in each town.Willmar and Granite Falls might be worth looking in to as well.

I have a cabin under contract in Granite Falls, WA that has some erosion around the foundation due to run-off from uphill.

Installed granite counter top and managed to save original cabinets, refinished floors, added in unit laundry which I think made a huge difference.

kitchen is top of the line Wolf and sub zero all granite and marble you know the drill.My question is would you allow someone to live in this short term and would they trash it.. ???