Dear Monica: My father, a widower, has owned his home for 50 years but has moved to assisted living. I want to rent it but it needs significant work.  What do you advise?  Barbara T.

Dear Barbara:  A common issue for some homeowners is how much to improve a property to rent it.  The desire to rent is usually to avoid capital gains because the owner has owned the property for a long time.  When the owner dies, the beneficiaries won’t pay capital gains because of a step-up in basis. 

If the property is in a good location, it should rent easily.  I would advise you to do basic prep work but not to do more than necessary.  The standard for a rental is to make it clean and functional.  Given the circumstances, that is all you need to do.