1)   Buy cheap and replace all the major mechanicals during reno.2)  Get a survey-  Nothing like finishing a remodel to find out the master is on the neighbors lot.3)  Have a clean and straightforward lease that address's problems before they arise..  

But if your goal is tenant retention, then you are best served by first conducting a rent survey to see what your local competition is offering for units that are on the market now; there could be a desperate landlord willing to drop rent below market, and your tenant could jump at that. 

I also believe you should do a search of nearby available rentals that are similar to see what the competition is asking for rent, a sort of rent survey.

Don't do that.Also, I would have paid for a survey when I purchased it, because the buyer's bank is probably going to require it.  

Get a boundary line adjustment (which will require a survey)3.

I will, of course, have the property manager do a rent survey before placing it on the market again.

The Pew Center recently released the results of a nationwide survey that found that only about 1 in 4 American adults can distinguish between facts and opinions:http://www.newsweek.com/fake-news-poll-americans-f...More facts and fewer opinions help build better threads.  

Sorry Jean but I've been to Aurora....I think they left that part of CO out during the "Fittest State" survey!  

Ironically, a couple months after I moved out, I received a survey that the corporate office sent to all of the tenants (mine was forwarded from my old address) asking about our opinions on the management. 

This is a very old rural area and people often built without surveys.