The carpet & pad will have to go then just paint the subfloor as well.

It's kind of a never-ending cat-and-mouse game.

I am almost certain you can "bank" years that you do not increase rents however you cannot do a yearly increase more than 3 times the CPI for the year (2% till June 30th, so a 6% total increase) and no matter the CPI you cannot adjust rents >10% in any one year.You could earthquake retrofit the building and that would increase your value plus allow you to adjust rental rates based on that so long as you don't use any public monies or Insurance to pad your costs.

Any time I hold an older house as a rental I just REALLY pad my rehab costs and I factor in a higher maintenance cost.  

We also looked for artsy hip looking people who kind of act like a scouring pad for rough spots in areas that are turning over.What you said about it being in a magazine reminds me of my first corporate job on Wall St.

We're doing 8 unit renovations right now up in Springfield MA and I think the previous owner of the building was mickey mouse himself. 

To solve the "too hard" issue you can always get a 3" topper and that provides the added padding to make the mattresses less firm. 

If they are on a term lease (I only use MTM for this reason, among others), offer to release them without penalty.You haven't given much context, but I worry that this could be a high-maintenance tenant and if you "give a mouse a cookie..." 

When you eliminate all the padding and cushion for unexpected events, its not a matter of if but when something happens and pushes you over the edge.

As of now approved for over 250 pads , here in GA.