This is what leads to the popularity of “live in flips” where you move in to the new property and spend 2 years fixing and upgrading the property before selling your primary home/flip tax free.

I'm not telling you NOT to improve/upgrade the property, but I'd exhaust all free/cheap options to market it as-is first.

Cost me 5k, the upgrades were not unreasonable, and the electrical work included safety improvements.

I bought it with cash but months later got a HELOC on it for some upgrades & other expenses.

So, if I did an electrical upgrade that was inspected by the town, and my house burns down for faulty wiring (that was inspected), the town carries no liability. 

I am a licensed GC and I've created a few arcades as well as upgraded some poorly done ones.

When I purchase a new rental, I always change out the valves for the toilets and faucets with upgraded valves that are less likely to fail.

My estimated basis, stepped up, is about 459K (that is 1/2 of my basis of 273.5K + 20K improvements and 1/2 the value at time of my husband's death of 585K) + 20K upgrades this year to sell.

At the moments, I'm looking at 2 properties both in California:-  First one is a beautiful, bigger home, completely high-end upgraded, in a higher value area with a good school district, and of course it comes with a higher cost to buy, rent can only cover the monthly expenses (mortgage, insurance, tax, etc), this one is expected to have higher appreciations in the long term.- Second one is a decent remodeled home, smaller, in a lower value area, I can get it without financing (pay cash), so it will cash flow (about $2200/moth after all expenses such as tax and insurance), it also has a potential for an ADU, but future appreciation is not as great as the first property due to location.

(Minor upgrades I could handle) I don't know any contractors at the moment.