You should have or be able to obtain receipts for any and all materials you bought to do the repairs you performed yourself.  

Any suggestions on reading materials, resources, or interest in meeting up for a cup of coffee to share wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

If you have nothing to bring to the table you will find it difficult I always tell folks in this situation is to simply go on e bay you can buy every single guru's written materials and tapes for 20 to 50 bucks each guru.. listen to all of those read them all.. then slice and dice and see what fits your personality.no one ever said real estate is easy.. takes no money and will just fall in your lap.. its the polar opposite.. 

There is a house near one of my rent houses and the owner used vinyl flooring for fence material.

Whatever is important to you. its probably helpful if you give an overview of what you are doing with the property so they can recommend materials and work. 4.

Just to let you know an additional thing you need to do is to keep some of the material used in case you have a repair later and using the same material assures you on the color whether it is still available or not.You are going to love this next statement. 

Varying grades and material thickness.

If you have to restore with only certain materials or methods, that may increase the amount of coverage you will need.2.

It would have been the buyers choice on how to access the problem and it it an undisclosed material fact possible hurting the value of the property.

I get that these places have an old school style, but can't you recreate that with modern clean looking materials.