My estimates include modest landscaping refreshes and often $10,000 in plumbing/electric, properly refinishing older tubs and sinks, not replacing with fiberglass, proper renovation of wood siding, not covering in vinyl, etc. 

Home equity lines of credit (HELOC) are very useful for down payments on investment property, or, for the funds to refresh a purchase.  

I put about $11K into it to refresh the finishes of the unit.

@Corey Woodruff Thanks for the tip, I heard this podcast a while back but am replaying it now for a refresher!

Are Japanese (large multi-family building) apartments typically rented out by individual apartment owners or by building owners?

My wife is Japanese (non-US citizen), we have a kid with dual citizenship and we live and work in Japan.

It is refreshing to hear someone using their knowledge of real estate to help others rather than only helping themselves.

If you're european or japanese with some capital to allocate US treasuries look pretty damn good compared to the sovereign debt available in your home currency.  

Do you use separate percentage estimates for capex (roof, HVAC, appliances, or other big ticket items) versus cleaning up and refreshing the property (like flooring maybe?) 

But before we get into that, a quick refresher on correlation in case you haven’t kept up on your stats knowledge since high school.