Is this something that should be left to battle hardened real estate investors and not for the newbie? 

I am my own handyman, and I hardened my own rentals.

@Sean McClureHi Sean,Here are my thoughts on this.If it were mine (excluding trying to pump the appraisal from the question because it's an owner/operator SFH vs flipping it).Overall, I would be concerned with not over-improving it for the amount of rent it will attract.First I would figure out the minimum that needs to be done to attract the average rent for the area (base on what the competitor rentals have that are getting that rent), and what (if any) modernization's (wall color, 3-prong outlets, Carbon Monoxide detectors, etc...) need to be done (to make it safe, and desirable to an average tenant in the area), then decide what "Hardening" needs to be done to it, to make turns, maintenance and ownership less costly.Good Luck! 

There are few things that are more recession proof than an independent portfolio of 15-or-so hardened rentals with carefully-vetted long-term tenants in them.

  :)I can see the attraction of keypads for short-term rentals,  but I am constantly trying to harden my rentals. 

Hi @Alexandria Harden...welcome to BP and the investing game. 

You should apply it like other gypsum-based products like "hot mud," drywall compound that comes in a powdered form and has a short pot life before it hardens.You can use a damp sponge to smooth the application area before it hardens to minimize sanding.

It would simply be a process of drying, coating, hardening the coating product. 

You have to work really fast with the epoxy or it will harden on you before you can finish.

I would suggest the newbies out there print it out and know that some of this stuff does go on and maybe harden them up.I knew a new investor that could relate to your fiction, and his wife wanted me to testify at their divorce hearing about his folly as a reason for certain things she wanted in the divorce settlement.Happy ending though, he became wealthy in real estate with a new gorgeous wife, and the ex was cleaned out by her new Don Juan soulmate boyfriend.