@Purple Floyd - Thanks.

Otherwise, you can make all of your preservation improvements, they will claim you were a mere trespasser and not entitled to possession, and they will be able to redeem by paying taxes and interest only, and will not have to pay you ANYTHING at all for your preservation improvements.That being said, most people agree the preservation improvements are anything necessary to return the property to habitability (but no upgrades or additions or changes just because it is prettier, such as painting purple walls white) plus things to preserve the property, such as termite control and painting exterior wood.An extremely small minority of people say preservation improvements are only those things necessary to keep the property from getting worse, such as termite control, exterior wood painting and roof repairs.

Check out Purple Cow by Seth GodinBest, Josiah

I have always thought the 20% down took care of 10% selling costs plus a 10% cushion to replace pet pee carpet, purple paint, etc at resale.

Purple stuff I think.

Scrubbed walls/ceilings/trim with a deck scrubber and the purple heavy duty Simple Green from Home Depot.

If you go to Homepath.com and click on the First Look Program link at the bottom in the purple area it gives and explanation. 

Its either a orange or purple box with 3 cans (depending on unit size you might need 2 boxes). 

I don't care if they are blue, purple or unicorn worshipers, if they qualify, they are approved. 

The results can be seen in the pictures below and final numbers at the end.Sheetrock work and then painting in the den and refinished the pine floors under the nasty pink carpet.Tore out siding on the porch and added sheetrock, installed new fan and light fixture, painted, closed in a window that looked from a bedroom onto the enclosed porch...Managed to save the cabinets, added granite and stainless appliances.Refinished the tub, kept the original floor and redid the subway tile in the original bathroom.Added this closet in the master, refinished the floors after ripping out purple carpet in here, painted walls, sanded and painted woodwork and added the fan.A laundry room no more, added this great bathroom onto the master bedroom.  5ft double vanity with granite top, toilet, free standing tub and custom shower.After having 5 tile contractors no show, either for the bid or after I had given them the job, I used a stock fiberglass shower pan from Lowe's and tiled the walls around it to avoid any more delays.