Maybe call a different mortgage company and lay this out as a hypothetical purchase you are considering making and see what they say.

I just did a quick google search and Baltimore County requires all rentals to have hard-wired smoke detectorshttps://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/News/PoliceNews/...In addition Baltimore REIA has an article which indicates that the city requires hard-wired smoke detectors as well:http://www.baltimorereia.com/smoke-detector-law/If you read the Baltimore REIA article carefully it lays out when battery powered detectors must be upgraded to hard-wired but of course you should not solely rely on their article.

Ceramic Tile Flooring and Shower walls, Marble band and shampoo box, and shower floor, new vanity (which was about 300 pounds).

New Kitchen Back-splash, Glass tile, extremely expensive and quite a process just for glass.

I didn't want to lay on to many questions, so my apologies if this was long. 

Unless you have 500k laying around, any coaching is not worth it.

They all recommend tile or composite shingle. 

Sometimes the seams will dry out and lay flatter.

This will help me lay out the options to the family and discuss next steps.

It needs some cosmetic updates: flooring, countertops, appliances, paint, replacing a few roof tiles.