Probably fancy upgrades, like smart thermostat and doorbell.

If you tried on a dress that fit perfectly and you loved only to discover it was labelled the wrong size, would you turn around and put it back? 

I run over 1,000 properties in & around Cleveland & probably 99% of them have much higher taxes than that & we all know that my portfolio isn't in the fancy outer ring suburbs, it's right there in the trenches of Cleveland. 

Even if you fancy yourself a do-it-yourselfer, you might want to get some professional help at this stage.

My advise would be to stay away from the big name companies with real pretty trucks and four page fancy letterhead proposals.

So either you want people to dress you up with compliments about how hard you work, or you don’t understand fundamental real estate concepts, all while managing 30 units....Something tells me you know what you’re up to here, Compadre.Advice: find a property manager and stop pretending you’re the only one that can run your properties well.

I expect it to be not fancy at all.

If focus in the bay area, then don't worry about cash flow at all - buy run down property, dress it up, then sell immediately.  

I knew immediately that I wasn’t going to accept this and that I would not live my life working hard just to scrape by.As a fresh college grad with a fancy degree and 6 months of (relevant) work experience it didn’t take me long to find a solution.

There isn't anything fancy going on here, just a very basic upgrade to get rid of the blue 70s toilet.