At some point, either after a 3-5 year single tenant stay or after x number of tenants, you do have to spend a decent amount of funds to keep a property looking "fresh" enough to get +95% of market rent..

 If I could go all the way back to the years when I was fresh out of college and start over knowing what I know now, I would actually go to grad school then start a career in a field that I enjoy working in that also pays well. 

The only upgrade I made to the condo while there was a fresh paint job that was done by my generous brother-in-law FOR FREE (minus materials) and the epoxy I handled myself in the garage.

Fresh coat of paint, new LVP flooring, landscaping, fixtures, some basic service, and deep cleaning- It was a total of $14,091, and it was from my pocket.

I am reading several books that seem to be popular/recommended - of course, I believe they were written by the creator of this website, so naturally they would be recommended by this website - and I am trying to decipher whether they are universal principles or things that worked at that particular time for that particular individual.As far as @Henry Clark 's suggestion that I narrow my focus to exactly what I can do now - I appreciate that perspective and will not bang my head against the wall about this topic.

It was great to read everyone's perspective on the situation.

From an appreciation perspective, over the long-term I don't think one will necessarily outperform the other by a significant margin.

Bathrooms are actually the best to put more money into then the kitchen, because people want a bathroom to feel fresh and clean.

I'm very interested to hear everyones perspective on this.

My purely hypothetical car wash mortgage client has 3 vending machines full of vastly overpriced car detailing stuff (next to a physical bulletin board showcasing some shiny freshly detailed sexy cars...), and one with snacks at normal vending machine markups (buys either at Costco, or whatever he finds on sale).GL.