I spent last weekend tiling the porch of one of my properties in the diagonal/tile style as a challenge and that's something, to me, that is fun and rewarding.The reason I posted this in "Off Topic" is because this is a bit tongue-in-cheek and a bit serious too!

@James Wise  Per your request.Coming out of the late 1800s most of the major west coast cities that we know and love like LA  SF  PDX SEATAC were all subdivided by the same engineering firms  at least SF and Portlandia were.. this led to land speculators in the day going out into the Western deserts and other remote areas.. buying what were large land holdings , Spanish land grants and other lands that were not govmit owned.. then in the day you could simply create massive subdivisions buy doing basic surveys off of the base and meridian lines.. which all of the west is surveyed off of... this is called section land.then create these massive tracks of lots.. some were like up in the apple valley, Lancaster,  Barstow type areas mainly 5 acre tracts.. and were done on a grid pattern.. streets in ( mapped but not built)  and of course spiraled out of a small little town off the railroad track or the few roads that existed in those days.. you took your map and recorded it at the county, county was happy they just got 5 thousand lots they could send out tax bills on..

If two have granite counter tops and tiled showers and one does not you should see that reflected in the sales prices.

Of course if this was a pattern it would be obvious.

We added recess lighting, got the laundry inside the house, converted the extra room into a gym and also painted the whole house including the tiles in the bathroom (since me and my girlfriend were experts in painting from all the experience we had from the back house).

I currently work in the oilfield and I’ve considered learning a trade (tiling, carpet, hvac, etc.) to help with my future investments and possibly have something else to lean on when the next oil down turn hits.

I planned on doing tile in the bathtub/shower anyways, but wasn’t planning on it now.

Run your comps based on how you plan to finish your house, if all three of your comps have granite counters, back splash and tile you had better budget for that.

There is a school a block away and a Walmart, Ross, Harbor Freights, Dunken Donuts and Goodwill in the adjacent areas (all 0.5 miles away).This property was stripped down to the studs and has been completely redone with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, new carpet, tile, heaters, HVAC system, water pipes and electric wire.

It's easy to mess that up by not digging deep enough, putting in proper rock and possibly tying to a drain tile (easier said than done), oh and sealing the new hole in foundation properly.