What's actually worth replacing between tenants?

Worth the money

• LVP instead of carpet everywhere except perhaps bedrooms. It survives and it cleans.
• One durable paint colour across the whole portfolio, so touch-ups need no matching and no second trip.
• Solid-core doors where the budget allows, and decent hardware everywhere.
• Angle stops, supply lines and wax rings replaced proactively. They cost pennies and they flood units.

Not worth it

• High-end fixtures, which are stolen, broken or simply unappreciated.
• Trendy tile that dates and cannot be matched in three years.
• Any finish that shows every water spot.

The Florida additions to the turnover list

Flush the AC condensate line and check the pan, because a blocked line between tenants becomes a ceiling on day ten. Check the water heater age and the exhaust fans, and run every drain. Those four take an hour and prevent the calls that cost a weekend.

The homeowner version of the same list is first-year homeowner maintenance.

Photograph everything

Dated photographs of every room at move-in and move-out settle deposit disputes instantly and cost nothing. Do it the same way every time, so the two sets compare directly.

If the flooring is being replaced over a slab, the preparation matters more than the product: LVP over a concrete slab. I do turnovers for Seminole and Orange County landlords: contractor services.

A turnover checklist that takes a morning

1. 1Change the locks or rekey, and test every window latch.
2. 2Flush the air-conditioning condensate line and change the filter.
3. 3Run every tap and drain, and check under each sink.
4. 4Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and replace batteries as a matter of course.
5. 5Touch up paint with the one colour you keep for the whole portfolio.
6. 6Photograph every room before the keys go out.

Six items, one morning, and it prevents most of the calls that otherwise arrive in the first month of a tenancy.

What to inspect rather than replace

Roof, air conditioning, water heater and the electrical panel are inspected between tenancies rather than replaced on a schedule, but their ages belong in your model so the replacement is planned rather than urgent.

An urgent replacement costs more, happens at the worst moment, and often comes with a displaced tenant. A planned one is a line in next year budget.