You zoomed in on a cracked driveway full of weeds and a fence that looks like it is going to fall down at any moment with bad landscaping. 

Updating with LVP, newer finishes, updated hardware, plumbing and bathroom, fresh paint, landscaping.

Allow one of the tenants to get a rate reduction for maintaining the landscaping.5) Once the property is fully leased out and seasoned, sell off to a REIT.6) Rinse and repeat.

so far just redid the flooring and landscaping. considering upgrading kitchen and bathrooms.

Tile roofs, stucco siding, desert landscaping, etc. contribute to our low average annual maintenance cost of around $450.New homes are typically more expensive than existing ones, and the property tax is also higher.

It may be worth it if you have dozens of property and you do a lot of maintenance, appliance replacement, and landscape work on them yourself. 

I wouldn't even think of doing 'landscape planning/architecture' in this environment without first flooding the place, seeing where the water flows v. where it pools. 

Typically, the idea of multifamily is to add value and decrease expenses to get a higher cap rate, so look for anything you can do to trim costs (landscaping, property management, insurance, water bills etc) and add value anyway you can (provide amenities, charge for storage/parking etc).

Now, some things will inevitably change (that’s life), but I don’t see the cultural or fiscal/government landscape really changing.

I’d prefer to be able to pick who does roof, landscaping, etc. on my own and not have every part of the work go through one GC.