The benefit for me was that I looked like a cash buyer and made me more competitive during the bidding process. 

I don't even bother getting interior brush and roll painting bids anymore.  

My contractor has provided me a contract bid.

I haven't seen that change in the monthly market reports yet, BUT ... what I'm feeling on the ground when looking with clients the last two weeks is that more homes are going under contract the first weekend, a few even have bidding wars again. 

When I was living in the house for over 10 years, I had multiple contractors to bid on Windows, kitchen counter tops, bathroom remodels....and the quotes were all so outrageously high from every company, we ended up doing a lot of work ourselves. 

Given this market, you can list a house based on comps, but its not an indication of where buyers will bid the properties of up.

I will pass.( the LARGER the risk/ loan/cash/ time… the LARGER I require in likely return.)b) RENTAL …same INITIAL investment… at the end… property value ( ARV)..MUST be great enough to1) refi… 2) All cash out is back.. 3) Cash flows positive enough to build ( any situation) 6 month cash backup.4) Property MUST have enough equity so that if I needed to sell TODAY… I won’t lose cash.The above requirements “ appear” to be unrealistic ( todays market) … ONLY becausea) non mature / non savvy “ investors are climbing over each other to out bid on over priced “RETAIL” properties being marketed as “ wholesale deals”b) the Gurus and Real Estate Investor Associations are NOT doing their NUMBER ONE JOB… which SHOULD be…To..”

Advise you to get a minimum of 3 bids for each item. $10k for a roof (at least here in my area) would be pretty low for most triplexes unless its a small area and no gables/valleys et) A new sewer line to the street often based on total length.

Every week, the King County, Washington sheriff's office posts a list of judicial foreclosure auctions from that Friday morning, with the starting bid and final selling price for each home. 

When homes are in an auction I focus more on finding defects to validate my limit of what I am willing to bid.