Other ways to increase value would be to find places to cut or lower expenses (laying off bad maintenance or property management or renegotiating cable or landscaping services lower or even taking water or other expenses and making the tenant pay for them if that's common in your area) and finding ways to add income besides raising rent (putting in vending machines or coin laundry, storage units or parking spots).

I had an expensive encounter with a huge willow tree sticking roots in my drain tile and sewer line causing massive damage and excavation.

Now I am laying my foundation for a solid take off.

bobphoenix can be a challenge but there are still properties that are a great investmentyou have to drive the neighborhoods and really get feet on the groundI'm looking to buy in phoenix by the end of the year a little duplex, I have looked at a few so far but before I get on board by laying down the cash ill look at another 20I have never been to confident with buying out of state, too many variables and relying on someone else to do your home work is not a great investment plan, its like letting a stock broker make your investment portfolio for younext time you fly in have a set of agents to talk to and get out the paper and see what areas rents are going for, then you can map out a plan to look at some propertiesHappy investing

They're definitely not the cleaning maids.Especially the tub, the silicone beading everywhere, tile grout and mold, countertops,flooring - they are same old fixtures - but sparkle like they're new.Who can I employ to do this work?

There were additional issues with tenant repainting, inoperative smoke detectors and lights, and a couple of hours worth of interior and exterior cleaning that we were not planning on charging to the tenant because we have 2 very major issues.The tenant put down carpeting over our tile floor.  

The results can be seen in the pictures below and final numbers at the end.Sheetrock work and then painting in the den and refinished the pine floors under the nasty pink carpet.Tore out siding on the porch and added sheetrock, installed new fan and light fixture, painted, closed in a window that looked from a bedroom onto the enclosed porch...Managed to save the cabinets, added granite and stainless appliances.Refinished the tub, kept the original floor and redid the subway tile in the original bathroom.Added this closet in the master, refinished the floors after ripping out purple carpet in here, painted walls, sanded and painted woodwork and added the fan.A laundry room no more, added this great bathroom onto the master bedroom.  5ft double vanity with granite top, toilet, free standing tub and custom shower.After having 5 tile contractors no show, either for the bid or after I had given them the job, I used a stock fiberglass shower pan from Lowe's and tiled the walls around it to avoid any more delays. 

Meaning 10-15K, but all new tile floors, kitchen and bathroom remodels to high end stuff (friend says retail, it looks like a 50K upgrades).

He would do all labor, and states that retail cost he would usually charge for what he can do, would be roughly 50K (Demo, Tile entire house, rehab bathroom and kitchen to 'luxury' level).  

Get a copy of the lease, which lays out exactly what the TK should have done.