It can be just a cosmetic repair where you’ll just do a basic paint job and arranging the furniture or do a complete rehab and fix everything such as renovating the 20-year-old kitchen, putting additions, changing fixtures, and so much more.Not just that, sometimes there are other things that you need to fix and the bad part is you don’t see them or you ignore them!

Re STR, you're right, getting some design/furniture going is a big cost.

Unless you're planning on doing a gut redo of the unit anyhow (which I would guess is not the case), it's much to your benefit to have her leave the place in great condition and sparkling clean rather than leaving a huge mess and denting up the doors and walls as she is moving her furniture and stuff on the way out. 

But that Lake Tahoe 300k gross will help pay the luxury furniture bill very quickly. 

If stray dogs are running the streets, there's trash and furniture out on the curbside, and suspicious looking characters loitering around up to no good, it's probably not a neighborhood you want to invest in. 

YUP for a new construction is runs 2500 to 5k per house depending on how long the furniture is there and how extensive the staging is. 

We may choose to make it a 30+ day rental and see what happens but if the projections are close to accurate we will have worse cash flow and be providing the furniture, etc.  

You may want to consider existing units since they will already be rented.Climate controlled was a must for us since we had nice furniture in the unit.  

So we then  painted the whole joint, repaired the rotted fascias, replaced the ancient AC/heater, new pool pump equipment, new concrete driveway to replace the crumbling asphalt, new landscape, updated bathrooms (resurfaced shower, nice, new cabinets/sinks, but off Craigslist), more new flooring extended throughout the entire house... even some upgraded pool furniture and a nice BBQ outdoor kitchen as we were told we are in a high end area that requires these types of amenities. 

Do it now and you will be happier you did.. of course once furniture is in it's not going to be as noticeable. but I'd still try and correct it.