What would you do with this ugly fireplace?

[Kyle Steiner]

I'm looking at houses to flip and I came across one with an outdated fireplace.  What would you do with the stone here?  Paint it white?  Rip it out and replace the drywall?

I'm wondering from a cost/benefit standpoint, would it be better to just leave it in there rather than incurring the expense of ripping out drywall, rebuilding a basic but nice brick fireplace, then hanging new drywall, taping, texturing and repainting?  

For some context, this is in a suburban neighborhood with prices in the $180 - $230k range and I would plan on repainting the walls regardless of what I did with the fireplace.

[Brian Pulaski]

I had a brick fireplace that needed an update. I had a mason put stacked stone on (also did the same on the entry to the house). Topped it with a nice mantle and it looked really nice. With that said the cost was in the 2500-3000 range, so that might not be in your budget.