In case you are wondering if upgrades are worth it

[Inna22]

I have reopened one of my houses after one year long term rental due to the pandemic. Originally I did not do much with it. I did not know if it would bring much money. Most of the furniture was from second hand store, paint was pretty bad throughout. It looked "tired". I had perfectly fine reviews (until the first months of the pandemic when everyone was unhappy, it was the way of life). I have reopened it with all brand new furniture, black and white theme on the first floor, theme to each bedroom, fresh paint throughout, all matching dishes etc. It has a dishwasher, washer and dryer, tv, back yard, fireplace. My second review, third day into the property being open: "Would stay here for location only. If you prefer amenities and decor, stay elsewhere". My verdict: no value to upgrades. Only add what you can charge for and only fix when there is no other way. Happy people will leave good reviews for a dump and unhappy people will find something wrong with a designer mansion

[Elaine701]

@Linda108 

I know most hosts are in it for personal income, but we put the vast majority of the money back into the house in the form of structural and living space improvements. The intent is to incrementally add value to the property over time to maximize our gains when we sell it at some future date. 

This has clear benefits beyond simply increasing the value of the property. 

1. As you mention, tax write offs. Just about everything is tax deductible. 

2. Increasing revenues. Oh, yes. It does make a difference. We've been steadily increasing our nightly prices year on year, and the guests are eagerly paying it. I have to believe this is due to consistent over-delivery (the accommodation consistently exceeds expectations, because it's always being upgraded), resulting in glowing reviews, which ultimately, gives confidence to those willing to spend more... 

3. Yes, there's personal satisfaction that comes from nurturing something successfully. It just feels good. 

But I'd point out that this strategy isn't for everyone. It's a lot of work 😐

[Mark116]

@Inna22  Ha, I hear you.  A couple of years ago we did a modest upgrade, we swapped out a rickety Christmas Tree shop kitchen table for a larger, nicer one [same wood tone], upgraded the kitchen chairs, majorly upgraded the dining room chairs--from the cheap oak spindle chairs to beautiful velvet designer chairs, put in a new bathroom vanity....

One of our first, maybe the very first, guest after this upgrade gave us 3 stars and complained of inaccurate photos.  But they were also a miserable group overall and it was clear they were one of those families that disliked each other and all but the dad were regretting they'd agreed to this family trip.

I do miss the free Airbnb photo shoot, because no matter what phone camera or digital camera we use,  or how we change/augment the lighting, our photos are just not as crisp.  

[Kelly149]

@Mark116 Help please…. “Rickety Christmas tree shop”… I’m trying and I just can’t figure it out

[Mark116]

@Kelly149  Don't you guys have The Christmas Tree Shop in Texas?  It's a TJMax/Marshall's type of discount store.

https://www.christmastreeshops.com/home

[Kelly149]

@Mark116 Aaaahhhh, nope, those haven’t made it down here yet. Our Christmas Tree stores just sell Christmas 🤪

[Linda108]

@Mark116   I found a local photographer who did real estate photos after I completed some renovations and her pictures are far superior to mine.  Not that expensive actually.  I was able to have the original photos gratis back in the day, but I like owning these photos as opposed to Air BNB having ownership.

[Inna22]

@Linda108 I took the number from the guy who took the free Airbnb pictures. I also much prefer to have the ownership of the photos

[Laura2592]

@Inna22 we are always fussing with "upgrades" and find that most do not add a lot of value. But because we love our little schoolhouse the upgrades are more for me. I keep wanting to put in better counters in the kitchen, I am 10000% sure no guests will care about that in any way. 

We replaced a bed after it was bent by a larger pair of guests. I redid the whole upstairs bedroom with new area rug, bed, bedding etc. Never a mention. Its really important to add your new pics as soon as you can because we did have a  returning guest who booked with the old pics and showed up with the new bedroom items months later.  He was put out but could not claim inaccuracy because we had updated the photos-- he just had not looked. 

I find the things that "add value" are small. Our record player and records, games and books get nice mentions. People usually think the beds are comfy. We have good towels. A few people have said we have nice overall decor but most never mention it at all. I think in order to feel its "nice" the guests have to feel as though "this is what I would choose in my own home."