I am an ambitious DIYer and have upgraded every part of my personal home in some capacity. 

It's not even a conscious thing, I think, it's deeply rooted somewhere inside us so that we don't even question: this guy has money and success, ergo he must have earned it, ergo I should trust him and follow his advice.

I'm unclear what you mean by upgrading your accounting for the syndication.We use multifamily property management software.

If you flip your flooring upgrades and appliances will probably need to be of higher quality vs a rental.

A popular strategy I've seen work is to scale with properties in the C locations and then slowly upgrade your portfolio into the nicer asset classes as you progress and become more cash flow heavy. 

You’re the insider who can ring someone up, say you’ve got a contract on a property ripe for a cosmetic upgrade, and watch them perk up.I’d say give it a whirl, see how it feels, and don’t hesitate to tweak your approach as you learn.

Quote from @Devin James: Quote from @Jay Hinrichs: for us we do very little marketing we rely on MLS what we do to compete is spend an extra 10k or so per house with upgrades other builders simply wont do..

I get upgraded on 80%+ of my flights when I don't directly buy business/first which is a bonus of the status.I've been following the points guy for a few years now.  

They may less sensitive to need upgrades/remodeling and avoid moving. 4) get a backup/lowball offer from opendoor, offerpad, etc etc.

We have minimal resources as far as money goes, but we have a relatively long list of upgrades (window treatments, hardware, light fixtures, paint, etc).