At closing the buyer ranted how much she loved the place, every feature, the built-in's I made, the slate tile, and how she got such a great deal and paying our closing costs was well worth the deal. 

I also have purchased some tools that I thought he would have, such as chain saw, tile cutter, etc.   

Being a builder, my first thought goes to the construction type items: Tile or wood floors, vinyl shower kits, high quality wall paint like Behr Marquis, solid wood furniture, good appliances not cheap rental ones, easy to maintain yard outside like DG, artificial turf and gravel. 

Everything. 2) Make sure you have a signed contract that is legal and thorough. 3) keep the progress payments relatively equal to the work being done....example - don't pay for tile when you're still doing framing.Go get some bids and then come back and talk to us again... 

Tax deductible improvements such as drainage tile, terracing, irrigation can significantly improve the productivity and the value of the land.

New LVP flooring upstairs to replace all the carpet, new cabinets and countertops in the 2.5 bathrooms, new fiberglass shower in the guest bathroom, new walk in shower (tiled) in the master bathroom, next lights/sinks/faucets/toilets/etc in all bathrooms, new paint on kitchen cabinets, new pulls on kitchen cabinets, new ceiling fans throughout, and fresh paint throughout.

One guy offered schematics (no signatures or seals or MEPs just drawings to secure estimates from prospective contractors), but if I understand correctly, sounds like I need everything as this will go through all permit depts.I am also going to try to do SOME things myself if I can find a solid enough document or set of video instructions to do so... like maybe laying the tile or framing up the walls?

Can you please give me the contact info of the person at Chicago Tile you have used in the past?

I also have a tile guy who could get a cosmetic kitchen/bathroom rehab done in 2 weeks.

Replaced some 2"x2" missing tiles with those small 1"x1" glass tiles from HD.