That is especially important here, because it sounds like you are buying from a landlord who did minimal maintenance and upgrading over the years.

No allowance for insulation or other thermal improvements - such as upgraded windows.  

Cheap budget upgrades for your 10K budget, I would definitely:Paint the whole house repose grey (Sherwin Williams) with white trimIf flooring isn't the same or needs to be replaced.. a nice, lighter colored laminate throughoutNew baseboard trim, 5.25"H adds a nice touch (and paint all trim bright white)Kitchen.. if old cabinets, paint them.

Or is it best to keep rehab pretty basic and cost-conscious? 

Inspection only listed 1 surprise, it only has a furnace not central air, although my AC guy doesn't see an issue with the upgrade - being a foreclosure it was "as is".

I'm going to upgrade to pro so I can get more local information.

I hear you, and this upgrade is definitely on the horizon.I think your specific issue today got caught up in an update we did this morning.

They did mess up the slab twice which was frustrating, but they ended up upgrading us to a seamless piece of quartz (a $700 upgrade I believe) for the trouble.

Permitting upgrades was interesting, because of their size, there are multiple code violations that were "excused" since they are grandfathered and the inspector could not recommend a solution. 

My question is, since I only have 12 months to pay it back before the interest kicks I’m going to refinance without doing any upgrades or rehab.