If you can obtain the furnishing in parallel with rehabbing/refreshing the unit, then the cheap option will not result in lost rent.  

@Jonathan Tang  little more to it in the timber business lest you buy a christmas tree farm..its not like looking in a catalog :)  but either way that was the concept.we made 500k on deals that we put no money into.. all in 90 days.. but that was when the J log  Japanese grade log  was selling for 1200 a MBF  it crashed along with the japanese economy so its not what it was.. but its come back strong on the domestic side with all this building and natural disasters  CA fires  and Houston flood.. although the flood is more a boon to sheetrock companies

We purchased a second apartment back in December and just finished a little "refreshing" on it and are currently trying to get it occupied. 

This home was completely refreshed (ready to rent) and I required a complete home rewire into the purchase. 

There are loads of woodworking resources to help you online with this, but I use two double-sided Japanese wetstones in 1000/4000 and 3000/8000 with a Robert Larson honing guide for this2.

There will also be the typical rehab and refresh work. 

It's refreshing in the dry climates that they work well in.

It was so refreshing to have a go-to source to not only help secure my properties, but also provide investor-friendly contractors, lenders, property managers, handymen, cleaners, etc. from one source.

@Chris Levarek thanks for the insights, that is honestly refreshing to hear about short term rentals, Thats an area of real estate that needs a little shake up in my opinion. 

Renovating when a tenant left meant only doing interior repairs / refresh; cutting time and costs.5.