A lot of times renters insurance will only cover specific items like if your computer or tv was stolen or damaged from an accident - since this pertains to the house, I feel the landlord should have some type of insurance claim on it.

I came across some local auctions that are moving locations and needed to unload some specific items.

If you need to learn how to fix a specific item, using Google or Youtube are good sources for how to.

In my area I'm required to do only a couple of specific items to keep the premises habitable. 

It is in a packet with items such as the lease, house rules, and a computer media with house specific items (trash day, water and gas shutoff locations, location of circuit breaker panel(s), GFI locations, etc).

The money for maintenance and capital expenses can come from several sources such as 1) cash reserves that literally exist in an account somewhere; 2) "good" money you have access to such as a home equity line of credit; 3) "bad" money you have access to such as a cash advance on a credit card; 4) funds you are building up each month by setting aside (again literally) money into a rental savings account or your rental checking account; 5) payouts from a home warranty for specific items covered by the home warranty.The amount that I set aside each month can vary depending on the amount of rehab that I have done to a property before renting it out.

Please let me know what you have learned over the years about putting specific items in your least to protect you as a landlord.

By that methodology, your price to rehab both scenarios would be the same which is ridiculous at best.I am a rehabber as well and I can tell you that the ONLY way to estimate yoru costs is to have the knowledge and experience necessary to know what specific items cost so that you can plug THOSE numbers in, not some GENERIC formula.

Thanks.I did a quick search, and did see this at the top of the Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations page (http://legis.wisconsin.gov/rsb/Statutes.html, in bold print no less: "...Searching by chapter titles for the desired subject matter is not a dependable method for finding all applicable law unless you know the book well, for the specific item you are looking for may not be in the chapter you select."

Many locations require a few specific items, like smoke and CO detectors, be installed even if you're doing more minor work.If you've just bought these properties, and are about to do work on them, a city inspector can usually advise you on specific things you need to do.