Hello everyone so I just bought my first rental home it is an older home from 1909 it has a basement well kind of a basement so it is a weird design the ceiling heights are only 65 inches tall and it has concrete floors with a furnace and water heater right in the middle and it is small the basement is only about 650 ft.² the upstairs of the house has been partially updated the kitchen and bathroom Are the two areas where somebody put a little bit of money into it like newer flooring newer appliances some Ookay cabinets some OK countertops the two bedrooms and living room are original hardwood floors that I am probably going to get refinished so my question is I have some money to rehab the house my options are doing some thing with the basement which right now I’m not even sure if it can ever be considered a habitable space because of the ceiling height issue and it does not have egress which I could get egress but it’s not that cheap I would probably just finish it as a rec room or something like that or I could put a majority of the money into the upstairs by upgrading it it does have a sunroom at the front of the house  which is a newer addition to the home which is in pretty good condition also probably would use some of the money to get a new paint job on the house I am just a little confused where I should put the money originally I was thinking the basement and had this whole plan planned out but now I’m starting to revert and go maybe towards  making the upstairs and outside and landscape nicer

Hello everyone so I just bought my first rental home it is an older home from 1909 it has a basement well kind of a basement so it is a weird design the ceiling heights are only 65 inches tall and it has concrete floors with a furnace and water heater right in the middle and it is small the basement is only about 650 ft.² the upstairs of the house has been partially updated the kitchen and bathroom Are the two areas where somebody put a little bit of money into it like newer flooring newer appliances some Ookay cabinets some OK countertops the two bedrooms and living room are original hardwood floors that I am probably going to get refinished so my question is I have some money to rehab the house my options are doing some thing with the basement which right now I’m not even sure if it can ever be considered a habitable space because of the ceiling height issue and it does not have egress which I could get egress but it’s not that cheap I would probably just finish it as a rec room or something like that or I could put a majority of the money into the upstairs by upgrading it it does have a sunroom at the front of the house which is a newer addition to the home which is in pretty good condition also probably would use some of the money to get a new paint job on the house I am just a little confused where I should put the money originally I was thinking the basement and had this whole plan planned out but now I’m starting to revert and go maybe towards making the upstairs and outside and landscape nicer

But I'll drive by the property at least once a week to make sure the landscaping is nice and there are not discrepancies. 

I know it's fairly easy to find lawn maintenance estimates for an area, but haven't seen much about other types of landscape.

Any safety issues, curb appeal-outside painting, light landscaping etc. 

Most of the time people with very small business like landscape or whatever wants to write off expenses against their business, for tax benefits. 

egress windows, added a 6th bedroom, landscaping, upgraded electrical panel.

We recently acquired a SF home that has very nice 8 x 10' water feature landscaped in. 

I think the average cost of an so so rental is about 800 per bedroom and if renting a SFH, expect to pay for all the landscaping, trash, water, and snow removal. 

In the future, I wouldn't personally allow an appraiser to schedule anything until the house is TOTALLY move in ready (cleaned, landscaped, etc).