Even If You Lowered the Rent, The Tenants will “nit-pick” and never be satisfied.
Not only will they nit pick your place, they will not improve it for you and will most likely make it even worse and cost you more in the long run.
When you are an investor, you have to set aside enough reserves to be able to do what we call a “turn over” after the old tenant moves out.
If you’ve had a long term tenant that’s been there for several years, your place is going to need new paint, 
probably some new carpet/flooring and other minor repairs such as new window coverings that you can not charge the old tenant because it’s “normal wear and tear”.
Yes it’s going to cost you some $$ to fix it up. However, in today’s Sacramento/Folsom rental market area, you’ll get a lot more in Rent if you do.
If you don’t fix it…? You’ll get disgruntled tenants that decided to take it as is because you didn’t charge the market rent you could have and even though they get the place at a lower rental rate, they will decide they are not getting a good deal.
Why…?
Because the place needs work and they really expect a Landlord to do it all. We’re experiencing this now in a property we recently leased up. The owner claimed they didn’t have the funds to fix it and we had a tenant willing to take it “as is”.
It didn’t take long for the tenant to start complaining.
Bottom line is fix your place up to a Move In Rent Ready condition and make sure all the appliances work. You’ll have a much better relationship with the tenant and you’ll be able to get top dollar for your rental.
