How much money would you put any money into a rental?

[bisous]

Aside from paint, would you be willing to contribute to landscaping or upgrading in a house you planned to rent for a long time?

We pay significantly under market rate for our rental place. We'd like to stay here for a long time. We LOVE it and the rent is probably going to stay low. We'd really like to "make it our own" but I wonder about the folly of contributing to a property that won't be ours forever.

[edurnemk]

Yes we would, for minor upgrades and landscaping. We're in the same boat, we pay a low rent for our place and we really like it so we've put some money into it for landscaping and we had some built-in shelves put in the family room, besides painting a few walls a different color.

We wouldn't put too much money into it, but we see it as a minor expense for our comfort and enjoyment of the place. I'd say so far we've spent about $1,200 - 1,500

[lalasmama]

I used to rent a small stand-alone house on a church-community's property. Years ago (like my mom's generation), they had bunk houses for campers, then they ran a seminary on the property, and then turned the bunkhouses into homes for the students. When they stopped the classes, they started renting out the houses to local church-goers down in their luck. I ended up there when looking for a safe place to raise DD. It was a small, run down house. The living room was sea foam green. The bigger bedroom had painted-over wood paneling. It definitely wasn't the newer construction apartment living I was used to! Oh, and I had a front dirt pile with some paving stones. And no steps up to the front side of the porch.

Three years later, there was a thriving front yard, a flower border, a little pumpkin garden, curtains, paint, upgrading the bathroom fixtures, bought a dishwasher, etc. I knew it was a long term place, and it was our home. I didn't want to feel like it was just a place I was staying, so I took it as my own, and put in the upgrades I wanted. I loved coming home to that place, and seeing *my* house, *my* garden, etc.

Long term rental, where your planning several years, I'd totally update as approved by the home owner!

[AnnieW625]

I rented for 5 yrs. and I never painted, changed carpet, or removed wallpaper. I figured that was left up to the owner. Besides stuff I could to the place like a shower curtains/rods I didn't change anything. I hung pictures as well. I think in the three rentals I spent less than $100, probably less than $50 actually on upgrading stuff. Besides the $600 I lost of an $800 security deposit for the apartment we lived in for 6 months (which I thought was nonsense as we didn't paint, smoke, or have a pet (it was a pet free facility)) I spent $200 to have carpets cleaned when I moved out of the first place (agreed upon in the lease because his sons were moving in and he wasn't planning on changing the carpet and I had been there for almost 4 yrs by then), and spending $50 on a Rug Doctor rental to clean the second condo we lived in for 4 months. Other than that I spent $20 on some high power drain cleaner at the first place, and at the second I broke a piece of vanity glass so I replaced that as well for maybe $20-$30. I don't remember. I did plant some flower beds in window box flower planters I kept next to my front door, and we still have them today. My parents took care of them until early in 2006 when they finally drove them down to our place because rental 3 was an interior hall unit and the balcony didn't have much sun. We didn't have a big yard at any of the three places I lived. Places 1, and 3 didn't have a yard.

If we were renting when we had kids maybe it would have been a different situation and I at least would have painted or maybe changed fixtures.

[vonfirmath]

Aside from paint, would you be willing to contribute to landscaping or upgrading in a house you planned to rent for a long time?

We pay significantly under market rate for our rental place. We'd like to stay here for a long time. We LOVE it and the rent is probably going to stay low. We'd really like to "make it our own" but I wonder about the folly of contributing to a property that won't be ours forever.

Anything that I could enjoy for the duration of my stay and was willing to leave behind when I left. Sure

I've installed lights that automatically come on when you drive up.
I've put new screens on in many windows, upgraded shower heads, as well as the shower rod. I've replaced the kitchen light fixture. I've filled in holes in the walls (that were there when we got there) fixed a loose wall plate.
ETA We also added (with owner permission) wall board to our last rental in the utility room so we could put up hooks in the holes and hang things. Of course we left that behind.

[Snow mom]

I'd certainly be willing to do a bit of landscaping if that's something you'd enjoy. Some plants wouldn't outlast your stay anyway so planting at a rental is the same as planting at your home. We've put three trees in at our house while we've been here (we own though) and total cost was maybe $400 but we enjoy seeing them grow immensely.

[rlu]

If it brings you joy or ease, yes.

[AshleyAnn]

I've been in my rental house about a year and I see myself living here for several more to come. My house was renovated in the mid 90's and some of the fixtures are clearly whatever the owner could get for free/cheap so I've been slowly upgrading the place. My projects have been small but definately improved the house and make me want to live here ever longer. I highly recommend putting a few hundred bucks into your living space making it someplace you want to be.

My biggest project was the bathroom - I started by replacing the butt ugly cheapo towel bars, toliet paper holder, ect in the bathroom to ones that match the bungalow house. Then I decided to replace the blank plate glass mirror with a nice framed one. I repainted that wall an accent color because the wall behind the mirror wasnt the same color as the rest of the wall. It had the typical 90's dressing room globe and it did NOT match my reno work so it came down and a nice fixture went up. Its beed done over a period of 6 months so its hard to say what I've invested but not much. I stalk clearance racks for good deals and theres some discount builders supply stores local to me that sell things closeout deals. I'm currently on the hunt for a new faucet for the bathroom sink and the kitchen sink. Then "my" bathroom is done. I dont care what I've spent really, I get ready in that bathroom every morning and it makes me feel great.

I also replaced all the kitchen cabient hardware, it was pricy because my kitchen is large and almost has too much cabientry but it really updated the look of the kitchen. I would have added a dishwasher if I could have gotten a good deal on one before I found the amazing deal I got on my portable dishwasher. I kind of wish I had done a built in since now I have this giant thing in my kitchen and when I leave I have to do something with it because I probably wont need it at the next house and it cost be about the same as what a cheaper built in would have cost.

Otherwise I've done a little paint, cube storage designed to work with the ackward livingroom and hallway, and three sets of those vinyl wall stickers in DD's room (which probably cost more than my bathroom project all together!)

IF laminete flooring every falls into my lap at a super deal and I happen to have some extra cash I'll probably ask the landlord if I can replace the flooring in the common areas. But thats probably more money than I should put into the house. I'd also like a ceiling fan in the bedrooms and maybe an accent wall in my bedroom.

[hillview]

I would and have. Things like paint, plantings, new carpeting (wall to wall) are all things I've done to places I've rented.

[wellyes]

Anything that I could enjoy for the duration of my stay and was willing to leave behind when I left. Sure.
:yeahthat:
Life's too short, enjoy where you are, don't nickel and dime yourself.

[Momit]

I definitely would, if it contributes to your enjoyment of your home. Adding flowerbeds, mulch, pavers or whatever outside to make the space more livable for your family. Inside - painting, updating hardware, window treatments, light fixtures, carpet cleaning (of course, only if OK with landlord).

[fedoragirl]

Our house is our own but it feels like we rented it because we only lived there for 4 years. I would recommend painting, minor landscaping, and lighting for maximum impact. I would only change carpet etc. if it was filthy or if we had allergies. We changed our home into hardwoods thinking we'd get our money back. Well, you know how that story ends. I don't regret it because I loved my hardwoods but it was a lot of money for a very short time.
It's important to know your financial situation and spend the money for what makes you happy. In our case, not every decision is motivated by money. If that were the case, we'd have a big fat savings account. :)

[StantonHyde]

I have negotiated with the landlord to plant flower beds and submit receipts which he took off my rent. I like flowers so was happy to plant annuals just for me!

[roseyloxs]

Yes and I don't even stay in a rental longer then 3 years. As soon as we moved here I had DH install pantry shelves into an unused closet by the kitchen, installed coat hooks in the entryway and fixed all the slightly broken door handles around the house. Its all stuff I probably could have requested from the landlord but I like doing small projects and don't mind investing a little in the place that I call home even if its only temporary. I would do flowers too except I have a black thumb so that's not really an option for me.

[kmkaull]

I guess it depends why you are renting. We relocated 18 months ago and have been renting to save for for a down payment. We went from a lower cost of living area to a much more expensive area. So in our case, we did not want to invest a lot of money into our rental.

If you're in it for the long haul, then sure, make some cosmetic changes to improve your quality of life.

[arivecchi]

We rented a house for about a year and a half and had a security system installed. It was a little under a thousand dollars but I really wanted it as I did not feel 100% safe in the area and my DH was working a lot at the time so I was going to be there by myself with the kids a lot. We also bought stair rug pads for the super slippery wood stairs and stair treads for all the outdoor stairs so that my kids would not fall. Left all of that behind. We've moved now and I did not regret spending that money in the rental at all.

[kaitlyns.mom]

At our previous rental (we were there for six years) we painted, added some wall hooks, some little plantings outside (it was a condo so we just had a patio) and bought a carpet cleaner.

We have been in our current rental for just over a year and we've painted the baseboards and some of the doors (they were all mustard yellow), planted vegetables and flowers in the backyard and more flowers in the front, and I think that's about it in terms of things we can't take with us. We would do more (including painting all the walls) but the rent here is pretty high and we are now on a month-to-month. There is really no way to tell when the landlord may decide to either sell or move in herself, so we've backed off on updating things.

I think it is absolutely worth it to make changes if you intend to be there long-term. While it's great to spend money on things you can take with you, on the other hand, sometimes all you need to love the things you already have is a change here or there. For example all the lovely hand towels in the world will not make me like our bathroom wall color! And while investing in a cute rug might brighten up our kitchen a bit, painting the orangey cabinets would do a lot more. ;)

[rin]

Would your landlord be willing to contribute to the cost of any permanent improvements? We have several rental properties, and we've always told tenants that as long as they clear it with us first, we'll reimburse for small-scale landscaping (e.g. trees/shrubs, maybe some mulch or gravel, etc) or for other things that would be considered improvements. For example, if we liked the paint color tenants picked out, we'd pay for the paint, otherwise we'd just ask that they repainted it to the old color before moving out.

[joonbug]

We've been in the current rental for a year so far (it's the first house -duplex- that we're renting, before it was always an apartment). We've painted the living + dining room, I'm planning to paint the DD's room in a few weeks as well - simply because the colors the previous tenants chose were dreadful - dark brown for living area, even darker for the fp brick and maroon red for dining... It turned out to be a bigger job than we thought LOL so we left the rest of the house untouched (the bathroom is dark brown as well, DD's room is ugly gray and DH's office is pink... We paid for the kitchen water tap but the landlord got the plumber to install it. I planted a lot of annuals in the common area on our 'side' and will do it again next spring, don't mind paying for it out of my pocket as we hang out there A LOT during spring and summer!

ETA: We plan to stay here till DD goes to elementary school, and I get my degree and get a job so 4 or so more years... Then would love to buy our own place!