ALWAYS consider common sense repairs before making a choice to demo and replace anything.

So don’t think this is some common way to make five figures with little to no money.

@Grant Bartel Replacing a bathroom vanity is a common upgrade or replacement project.

-  How do you assess deductions for damage in a common area such as a kitchen? 

The 20% down with a conventional loan also gave you a great start with lower monthly payments, which helps when maximizing rental cash flow.Regarding the lesson you learned about letting the seller take advantage of small asks, it's a common challenge for newer investors.

These combi-boilers are very common and super efficient.

You only need to put a small game plan together to start running the numbers base don zipcode, property type, sale prices, common rents/cash flow.You would be surprised how far $150K can get you to cover a New primary home and 1-2 rental properties back to back. 

If you don't have enough to buy with cash and will get a mortgage, I would focus on finding a good-value home with a solid CAP rate and Cash-on-Cash return that will appreciate and fit the most common rental size house in your area. 

I have been playing around with python to build financial models and wanted to get some tips on how to make my models more user friendly and better at solving common pain points.

That said, they also tell me that the rewards are worth it, with high returns and strong relationships with repeat borrowers being common outcomes.So, if you're exploring hard money lending, I think focusing on transparency, speed, and offering flexible loan terms will go a long way.