Clear title is squeaky clean free of any and all encumbrances. 

(That's where the 'consultantancy' and/ or additional marketing and advertising angles, other tactics, buyer pre- screening, etc. can come in very handy... and routinely 2- 3x your LO, ROI. :-)

With most REO's, the decision makers are most interested in seeing clean offers that have a high likelihood of closing.

@Landon RasmussenPaint it, switch out all the lights for daylight LED, clean it like a laboratory inside, mostly denude the landscaping outside no matter how lush and beautiful you think it is. 

It's a great SFH in an A area (Olathe, KS), inspection report came back very clean, everything looked great.

Unless you plan on doing all the work yourself, you should factor in termite inspection/prevention, possible tree removal/trimming, clearing gutters to prevent leaks, sending contractors to fix things that break, painting unit after each tenant, changing locks after each tenant, cleaning, appliance maintenance etc. 

How should you go about balancing between affordable and enough to cover repairs/cleaning?

Background check is clean. 

@Julie McCoy My cleaning lady refuses to do this job. 

In some real estate markets (and on some types of deals), the contingency is rarely waived; in others, it is routine.