Usually, they take care of exterior maintenance and upkeep plus you have amenities that you can advertise to your tenants.

New roof, exterior painting, new flooring, bathroom updates, finished new living space What was the outcome?

New roof, interior & exterior paint, finished additional living space What was the outcome?

It's a 3 bedroom house and we plan to use technology such as a smart lock, WIFI exterior cameras, and a smart thermostat.

I generally like the first picture to be an exterior picture for units like that, but I sincerely doubt that's the problem.

Details on the duplex:Price: $385kBuilt: 2012Size: 2674 sq ft (1333 each side). 2 story, 3B/2.5B each side w/ 1 car garage & driveway for both, fenced backyard both sides.Interest: 5.49%PITI: $2,698Current Rent: $1,350 but could be brought up to ~$1,600, maybe $1,700Yearly Property Tax: $8,340 (I don't pay any on my side while I live there so $4,170)Upgrades: Vinyl floor in kitchen of both units, new AC (central HVAC) on vacant unit, roof done 2016. 

I just had 2100 sf of luxury vinyl flooring installed.

Planning to start a complete home remodel (interior/exterior) on a home (currently 837 sq ft), kitchen and bathroom bump out, and add an additional bathroom. 

Everything looks great....one little thing, in your description of 'EXTERIOR', you have a lot of interior stuff listed.

There is no given answer here, because the whole property needs to be relatively consistent.Kitchens and baths are the common answer, but if they are passable and you choose to invest in them anyways at the expense of peeling paint (or off putting exterior color) and overgrown landscaping, the appraiser and tenant will be walking up with a bad taste in their mouth, thereby not valuing the interior work you have done.But think about the general flow of someone looking to rent: more bedrooms will typically dictate more rent.