If the foreclosure is 85 years old then naturally that is going to be an upgrade over existing cabinets even if I go to home depot and get stock cabinets in most cases.  

. - as far as how much the letters cost, if you want to go the handwritten route you could pay a high-school kid a few dollars per hundred.

So I should replace kitchens in my 800 dollar rentals with custom cabinets, granite and viking appliances cause thats what i have in my home?!

(rebuilding interior walls, closets, shelving, kitchen counters, cabinets, lighting, fixtures, flooring, bathroom, etc).Note: plumbing, electrical, etc into the unit is all being covered by the building, so I only need the "walls-in" rebuild cost per sq ft.As far as quality, let's say "middle of the road"... so we're talking nicer than your typical "cheap rental property", but certainly not looking to do a high-end rebuild (no high-end finishes, etc).

Considering what our borrower probably paid in total points and interest (typically in the tens of thousands for a multi-hundred thousand dollar loan over 6 months), I'm not going to piss them off by asking for an additional $15 at the back end of a loan.

Other than that it has laminate counter tops, golden oak cabinets, brass fixtures, 4 inch white tile baths, you get the idea... 2001.Based on my research of comps on rentals.com it is very obvious that there is a line somewhere of diminishing returns when updating a rental, but I haven't been able to exactly pinpoint it yet.

You might be lucky if you're able to net a couple hundred dollars off a long term buy-and-hold if you purchase based off of cashflow in some cheaper areas.

Spending hours marketing, showing properties and doing handy work to save a few hundred dollars.

Write up and sign an agreement to terminate the lease if they vacate the property by X date in decent condition and return keys, you'll give them a few hundred dollars.

It's about what you can invest in that meets your goals without adversely affecting your quality of life to an extreme degree.I have a friend who owns 3 different complexes of hundreds of units.