Your post about “some of the options to think about for rentals” was very thoughtful and well organized. I have been thinking similar questions to myself and it kind of crystallized some of my vague feelings about which homes to buy. I wanted to add some of my “vague feelings” that you didn’t address:
What appliances are worth getting, and of those, which are worth getting from the manufacturer? If not the home manufacturer’s choice, which brands are you getting? We shop mostly at Lowe’s and Home Depot with a few items from mobile home mail order stores. Materials cost is a big expense for us doing our rehabs.
Assuming style is not a factor, what features are good for rental homes? For instance, I have been in countless homes inside of which the children’s rooms have drawings or scribbling on the walls. I’ve seen quite a few of those homes have a blackboard-type surface in those tiny rooms in the 16x76’s – is this something to bug manufacturers about (or, on a smaller scale, try out when replacing walls in rehabs)? I suppose it depends on your market; ours is low-income suburban Texas.
Or for another thought, what type of insulation should we get on a new home? The extra cost is relatively small but still significant in number of dollars; the relative benefit of the amenity accrues to the tenant, and it seems like a hard sell to justify extra rent just for more insulation. Do you order homes with the higher insulation number anyway? And is one kind of insulation easier to replace when the “stuffing” falls out of the home, as my mother likes to say?
I would never go for a plastic sink. I have had to replace too many of the that had ugly cigarette burns in them. The cheap metal enamel vanity sinks all seem to rot out, but I’ve had good results with heavy ceramic sinks.
When you buy a used home you will see what happens over time to the metal windows:
More breakage - each pane is only single strength glass
The jamb (area between the 2 panes) is usually discolored at best or rotted out at worst. This is from the sun and/or rain. Occupants will typically open both windows, then later only shut the interior one and then the rain gets the jamb all wet and eventually ruins the wall as well.
Cleaning - you have to clean 4 sides of glass vs only 2 for the vinyl insulated pane style
Appearance - the newer vinyl windows have a nicer look and and the frames themselves are easier to clean as well.
Some of the newer vinyl windows will come with Low e glass - energy savings
“Or for another thought, what type of insulation should we get on a new home? The extra cost is relatively small but still significant in number of dollars; the relative benefit of the amenity accrues to the tenant, and it seems like a hard sell to justify extra rent just for more insulation.”
Previously, my Husband and I had a Ratified Contract on a Mobile Home Park in South Carolina that had several, older Park Owned Mobile Homes. As part of Due Diligence we were trying to determine how many of the Park Owned Mobile Homes were actually rented (as the Owner would not provide any information).
During Due Diligence my Husband was told by the electrical company that a large portion of the Tenants move out in the middle of summer. They further stated that the reason the Tenants moved is because the Mobile Homes had very little insulation and that they could not afford the summer electric bills.
As I stated previously, these were older Mobile Homes. However, the lack of insulation caused a high turnover in Tenants.
Hopefully, new Mobile Homes (with or without upgraded insulation) would not have summer (or winter…depending on your location) electric bills that would cause the Tenants to leave.
Thus, you are correct that upgraded insulation directly benefits the Tenants.
However, upgraded insulation might also give you more, long-term Tenants.