Here are some tips on how to spruce up your property without having to dish out a lot of money.

If you have the old aluminum windows on your apartment you can add window shutters. Pre-primed window shutters can be purchased at most hardware stores. Paint them an offset color so they stand out.

Spruce up the kitchen by adding new faucets. You can also add new knobs to all of the kitchen cabinets. If your cabinets are that old brown wood color from the 1960’s, then consider painting them a nice glossy white if you don’t want to buy new ones.

Put in a nice entry foyer made of tile. You will be surprised how inexpensive this is to do and how your future tenants will love it.

Put in a new front door. You can buy pre-painted white doors with an aluminum skin for about $130 from Home Depot.

Put in new door handles throughout the units. These are relatively inexpensive at most hardware stores and will make your units look new.

Install new electrical switch plates through out. Nothing looks worse than old cracked plates that are painted over. You can buy switch plates by the bundle and they cost about $5.00 for 10.

Always replace the shower curtain for a new one. A new shower curtain gives the bathroom a fresh look.

Frank Ponce
Real Estate Investments
Southern California

One of the biggest and most economical spruce-ups for a property is a new coat of paint. We paint all our units the same shade (called "antique white") that is available by the 5 gallon bucket for about $45. That's more than enough to paint one of our duplex units, every room.

Also, curb appeal is one of the biggest factors and one of the easiest and cheapest to fix up. If someone doesn't like the outside of the house on a drive-by, they won't have any interest in seeing the inside. Make sure the yard is mowed and is fresh and green (You might have to spend some money watering the grass). Have any bushes neatly trimmed. Some fresh flowers (yellow is best) add color and interest and many varieties are quite inexpensive. Make sure the front door is new or freshly painted. Make sure the mailbox doesn't look beat-up. If paint is peeling on exterior windows, put a fresh coat on.