On the other hand, since your tenant has been in the property for so long, you will likely have significant turnover costs (all new repaint and flooring likely).

I live right next door and will be repainting, replacing flooring and doing some minor modifications.My home will be a short term min 2 night stay max 1 month stay (extendable month to month) furnished rental.I have just about completed moving out of the 3/2 1900 square foot home.I plan to rip up all carpet and sheet vinyl and install simulated wood glue down vinyl throughout the entire home.

If well cared for carpets should last 10 years or longer.I've never heard of any law requiring the carpets to be replace or the place to be repainted after three or four years.

With smoke stains and other smells I've found that priming the walls AND CEILINGS with an OIL BASED primer (not water based) did the trick before I repainted.

I feel that when they leave I will have no choice but to repaint the entire house.   

If you own an asset 20+ years, you will likely have to replace the kitchen and bath, roof, repaint exterior a time or two, etc.  

It's the outside of the property that could be better -- the mansards' tiles don't look great, the windows don't look so good -- so we're repainting the doors in front and placing sun shades over the windows.

Let's put it like this, a 1950 mustang all new repainted and update it or a 1990 mustang with no updates , what is more likely to brake down sooner?

Collecting rent alone is a hassle, much less the increased maintenance by low income not knowing how to take care of things, and then how time intensive turnovers are, like almost always needing to repaint and recarpet.The street I live on often has crimes reported, that alone doesn't give a complete picture of the neighborhood.  

Larry - What did the repainting cost for a standar kitchen?