In the case of a buy-and-hold property, how much easier is it to rent once it has been tastefully upgraded? 

You're still going to have to manage your managers, and you can't do that if you don't understand what they're doing and why.Whatever you do, whatever expensive tastes you've begun to cultivate, whatever urges you have to buy nice stuff now, step on them.

You could almost taste the cat urine in it, roof was peeling away the laminate flooring wasn’t supposed to be brown... and just in general the place was extremely out dated along with the attic needed some serious TLC

(FWIW, her highest and most valuable use in OR would probably be for a "farm brewery/tasting room."

If only there were easier ways to force tasteful development.

Butte is an acquired taste.

The right PM can make you life a breeze but the wrong one can ruin your taste for real estate investing (and humanity in general).Remember: cheaper doesn't mean you'll make more money.You can start by going to www.narpm.org to search their directory of managers.

Capital expenses can blindside you and knock you out the game with a bad taste in your mouth and sour you on real estate. 

No question there is a global recession cooking and some nations are getting the taste of it.

I recently purchased a house not for investment purposes and so got taste of the process.