I have improved fair rental value and value by increasing the kitchen size; adding an island tearing down walls between the kitchen and dining area and living area, etc.It all depends on the particular property. 

I would recommend you begin researching Chicago based meetups as there are a bunch of really good ones.

on second thought your numbers are fairly conservative.

Very few successful investors get by without experiencing their fair share of bad tenants/evictions.Selling tenant-occupied properties with uncooperative tenants is challenging in NY. 

Is it fair to only protect one side?

Formation of a CA LLC and ongoing maintenance is generally fairly inexpensive.If you need referrals for attorneys in San Diego, feel free to reach out.

Being a rehab loan it was still fairly expensive.   

If they are VERY professional, they will have their processes in writing as verification that policies are enforced equally and fairly by their entire staff.6.

I had a fair amount of people (between 5 and 10) express some interest. 

This was a fairly large PM company and they seem to trust the tool over rentometer or zillow.Does anyone here have any experience with rentrange and is it that much more accurate then rentometer?