We did this effectively I believe while keeping costs down to a minimum, but still changing enough to significantly alter the look and feel.

For instance, sometimes an un-used dining room can be easily converted into an extra bedroom (extra tenant), or a-not-very-useful space can be converted into a bathroom (extra rent)...sometimes, a weird floorplan that actually drives away other buyers (thereby making it easier for to buy the house) can be altered to your advantage...you and your agent need to be good at spotting these types of possible improvements that can turn a house that would otherwise be a month-to-month loser into a cashflower.Good luck out there!

The Person recommending the refi is on crack (or some other mind altering substance). 

Maybe alter the % based on review feedback. 

The next step was having a HUD consultant walk the property with the contractors bid and made sure it checked all the boxes for FHA requirements which we had a few small additions that didn’t alter the rehab price.

In my state, you can look but you can't alter. 

If the borrower also provides profit upside that could alter certain components of the deal such as potentially a lower interest rate

Remain calm and share that you expected more from their firm, you thought the Broker should know, and intervene.The owner pays the commission and cannot alter your transaction as a result of commissions. 

It used to be look for where the investment money is going, look for where the jobs are but now with remote working becoming more widespread it has altered to reflect this shift and is more evenly balanced between the location of jobs and the location of talent - as in - the talent that a company wants to attract will live in a desirable location  - one that has culture, amenities, good restaurants, galleries, cafe's, festivals etc.

They asked to put only 1 TV on the wall and we allowed, but without our permission they drilled holes in almost every wall in the house, put 2 more TVs up and hung all kinds of other stuff, except 1 bedroom, so 1 living room wall looks bad and 2 bedrooms have all walls altered, and patches are poorly sanded.