You need to also take care of the following. 1.Fixing up a vacant rental so it can be rented out again.a.We had handy men to do most of this, but with 40 rentals my husband and I had to pitch in a do the labor ourselves as well.b.I would paint the house and garages.c.Husband would fix the repairs inside2.I would take care of the tenants.This entaileda.Taking care of advertising the homes (usually we had more than one vacancy at a time)b.Taking phone calls and screening tenantsc.Scheduling open housesd.Staging the housee.Interviewing the applicantsf.Making sure I double checked their application formsi.Criteriaii.Employersiii.Verifying funds and income3.Typing up the lease and making sure they understood the lease4.Then making sure the Tenants abided by the lease agreement5.Paid their rent on time6.And sent that Notice to Quit for Non Payment of Rent the very first day rent is late.On top of that I did my own evictions and I never lost a case and I dealt with the 36th District Court in Detroit.I won because I covered my butt by having everything in writing.I documented everything.Every phone call I made to them and every phone call they made to me.I never complained to a tenant because they called regarding a repair.I listened when they told me they couldn’t pay their rent, but even though I understood their problem, I made them pay their rent anyway.Landlording is about making tough decision and doing things you don’t like to have to do.Landlording is a Business.You have to not LOVE YOUR HOUSE.I can’t stress this enough.If you don’t know or understand that this is a business of evictions, damages, and injustices, and fixing this house up over and over again, you aren’t going to be happy let alone successful.How I wish I could be there for every new investor to help them understand what it’s like to be a landlord BEFORE YOU INVEST.But I can’t and that’s really a shame because it something every new investor should dig into before they invest.One last thing.

But it's amazing what a coat of paint will do to enliven a space.

I've spend $16k on exterior repairs and paint and would expect that to appreciate the property more than dollar for dollar. 

Unless a surface is proven to not be lead paint it is assumed to be lead paint on any home built before 1978.Now for the good news.

XYZ features - laundry granite stainless appliances new carpet/paint/kitchen/bathroom/flooring whatever, xyz school district. 3.

I did the painting, replaced the roof, hung the drywall, replaced the kitchen cabinets, layed new tile in all 3 bathrooms, put wood engineered flooring in house and replaced the water heater myself.

We helped paint the entire home, laid sod (and even paid for some of it), stained the deck, repaired the hot tub and did other various maintenance to the home while living there.

It can use a paint job or siding.

No, you can't just come into a tenant's property and start painting

I expect I will also need to do some touch up paint, minor repairs, and a heavy duty cleaning, between tenants.