A couple of questions: Is this a house you actually own already, or is this a hypothetical? Leading to: Is there a kitchen there already? What is there? There's no point in worrying about finding cabinets if you have a kitchen full. Don't trouble trouble until trouble troubles you, as they say ... In your area, who is the most likely person to rent to? Students? Low income people? Health care workers near a hospital? Is it a resort area? A retirement community? These things may influence your decisions. "What people want" in incredibly subjective. Each of those groups named -- and there are so many not named -- would want different things, and individuals would want different things. Basically, though, in a rental, do as little renovation as possible without serious thought, and learn all your legal rights and responsibilities. Maintain scrupulously though. (I know I have rejected many apartments just by smell alone. Sometimes just by the smell in the hallways.) As for "vintage" hardware -- try salvage houses. People sell it by the baggiefull. I have rented several apartments and houses with simple, modest kitchens and strict, honest landlords. Personally, I prefer this style to the owners who watch too much HGTV, get dollar signs in their eyes, have their brother in law slap in bargain granite, triple the rent, and throw a badly-spelled, hyperbole and exclamation-point laden ad on craigslist. Bottom line: I would make the best choice based on the house for the area and the market, maybe access to public transportation and the things the renters would be interested in: schools if that's part of the target, the local business park if that's the target, the beach, shops, medical facilities, pool etc. THEN I'd look at the kitchen, and me? I'd look to making what you have the best it can be. At least while you get the hang of being a landlord.

I'm interpreting your question a little differently: Are rental properties usually bought with the intent of continuing as a rental property, or to become the new owner's primary residence? Is that what you meant to ask? Yes! Thank you! I understand that the last thing we want to do is buy a house with tenants who have months remaining on the lease, and we want to look at the lease before we make an offer. I'm a renter, for heavensake, I know what rights renters have in my state. I want to know: do most of these "investor's specials" actually get bought by people who want to be landlords, or do they usually get bought by people who want to inhabit/flip the property? AND, when they ARE bought by investors who want to be landlords, do those investors usually want to keep the current tenants (as I had imagined) or do they usually empty the property and start fresh? Nosoccermom: I'm just thinking ahead in general terms. Ethically I need to decide whether I'm okay with looking at properties with renters at all (there are a few generally possible-looking ones we've come across) and then of course I need to look at each specific property for the specific tenants and lease involved. It's very important that we find a house we like and can afford because this will be our family's new (only) home -- we've been living in a place we hate for years and are overjoyed to be able to move.

Hi, I'm a Realtor, been going into other people's houses for a number of years, did a bit of property management, & here's what I've learned: Warm tones go with warm tones, & cool with cool. Bright white goes through periods when everybody wants it, & then after they've cleaned it for a year or so, nobody wants it! Plus, if a white is too "clean", it'll make furnishings look dingy. It's a cool-to-cold color, not inviting at all. (Think laboratories.) Warm colors are more inviting & they'll harmonize with the warm golden & brown wood floors. The medium-light warm neutrals will go with most people's stuff, & they'll go with the floors. The kitchen has the potential to be very charming. You might get some ideas by searching for images of kitchens in the 1900's or the 1940's... but there again, warm neutrals will probably be better for a rental. If the budget will stretch to new kitchen flooring, you might get rid of that cold-looking gray & replace it with a good grade of vinyl (Congoleum used to have a product that will outlast us all) in a warm color & a "vintage" pattern, or even install those linoleum squares like you see in school cafeterias. They would look appropriate for the age of the building, you can move the fridge without tearing the flooring, & that stuff lasts forever.

I have to agree with whoever told you they don't supply w/d to tenants anymore. I've been a homeowner for a long time, but I used to be tenant in various apts. None of which supplied a w/d in each apt. My daughter who has been a tenant in two separate buildings, also, no w/d in the apts. I have noticed the trend in recent years for landlord supplied w/d in rental units and while it's attractive to a tenant, it can only lead to high costs and frustration for a landlord. If I was to own rental property, I would not, under any circumstances offer a w/d in the rental unit. To the point that if I bought a rental property and it came with w/d hook-ups, I would seal them off and build a cabinet in front of the hook-ups. No exceptions. I've owned enough washers and dryers in my lifetime to know that even with my own very good laundry and loading habits, bad things happen, and sometimes it's catastrophic. Tenants for the most part are not going to take as good care of any appliance in their unit as they would if they owned said machines. I understand your frustration though...you have existing tenants who have rented a unit with w/d hook ups and provided machines, therefore you pretty much have to keep things status quo. You might want to think about the time when these tenants vacate and perhaps remove your laundry machines and seal up the hook-ups since this is going to a repeat problem no matter who your tenant is. Call me Scrooge, but I'm ok with that. It's costly enough to keep up with maintenance and purely cosmetic improvements on a rental unit, insurance, property taxes, etc...add in appliances and it's hard to make ends meet on paper and bank balances. In fact, back in my renting days I never even had a dishwasher supplied. Neither has my daughter. Just something to think about.