Yep, I used my HELOC to help me pay cash for my first two rentals. 3 years later I did a cash out refi on one of them and got all my cash back plus an extra 10k.

I always thought he went the extra mile to save me money and he knew what looked the best.

My realtor suggested about 10k-20k extra in value.  

If your property is a good mid-term candidate, then it's just a matter of whether the extra effort is worth the extra income to you.

It’s not a feature a tenant will pay extra for, much less maintain.  

That may look different next year, but if not, sustainability and morale are more important than a few thousand extra dollars per year.Running a 53 acre ranch in Texas is a WHOLE other level of property management.

It may sound nice to pay a 6% management fee but the extra fees can add up to be more than the other company that charges 10% with no additional fees.

Budget extra for overages

You could rent a home for under $2,000 and save the extra money.

If you win, they will have to pay the extra expense of the filing fees, etc, on top of what you say your damages are (which would be the cost to hire someone else to complete the job).