I have built and remodel homes, office building, restaurants, industrial plants, etc.Current day job - working for developer/construction company that builds high quality apartment complexes.

Look at some comps in the neighborhood, both 4/1.5 and 3/2.5, and try to determine if the added value will surpass the remodeling costs.Personally, I would prefer the 3/2.5, but it's your buyers/renters that matter :)

If the area supports higher rents, then maybe down the road you can get rid of overhang, and remodel to a more modern style on the building, and at that time, change out the railing to a metal, cable or plexiglass type railing.

What kills most attic remodels is the fire code egress, I would check on that before I went any further.

Among many topics, he wanted to emphasize that renting isnt always easy--people leave in the middle of the night and in this case it was believed that the tenant purposely set the place on fire when the owner just spent thousands of dollars on it last summer remodeling it.

We installed removable panels on each end of the house that could be opened to allow the wind to blow through.I had a remodel recently that would shift every time it rained and the new doors would stick.

Would already have a lower cost architect draw plans, then hand plans to contractors to obtain bids from contractor with them pulling permits and then doing the job.Would appreciate feedback on this from anyone actually familiar with Southern Calif. building / remodeling costs.

I prefer to rehab my properties in a manner that reflects how I'd like to have my home remodeled. 

Hi Mark,I've done about a dozen kitchen remodels in the past few years client's and the best place I've found for kitchen cabinets is IKEA.

I've found it to be fairly accurate although my properties are all well maintained and recently remodeled, so I easily rent them above the "average" for my area.