. =) "Winners take imperfect action while losers are still perfecting the plan." ~ Tony Robbins

If her comps are sold within the last 90 days and yours are similar properties sold 270 days ago, well, both are imperfect.

But hiring is an imperfect science, so you'll sometimes hire people who need more help than expected.  

If the switch is white you can just spray paint them.It depends on what kind of rental you have with what they expect.We have small old water stains from previous leaks on the ceiling when tenant moves out.I buy a spray can of Kilz for 5 bucks and usually last about for 2 of my apartment units hitting spots.You can't tell afterwords with the ceiling and it looks great.It's cheaper than scraping popcorn and trying to match or scraping the whole ceiling and a flat ceiling because it is old showing all imperfections if you just scrape and paint it.On the light switches I agree it works to replace them all but in older apartment buildings I try not to do that because what I have found is the wiring in behind is cut short or has too much excess crammed in.So if the wiring was all clean and the right slack from out of the box it would be easy to replace.I have found that some go smoothly and the others are a bit of a pain to change out making adjustments.The Kilz for the ceiling I only do that on non-active leaks where the drywall still has integrity to it and is not sagging.If it is sagging I cut out and put a patch in and then popcorn over it after priming to stick.All my tenants want is a nice,clean place to live.If you have a high end tenants paying premium bucks then finish level and what the tenant expects will change.In mine replacing everything will only net me maybe another 30 bucks a month in rent and the thousands spent will take 5 to 8 years to recover if everything goes perfectly with each unit.

Flat tends to get dirty and shows imperfections rather easily; or am I confusing that with something else?

I also found that sometimes the look that you are going for (texture and no wall imperfections) is easier obtained by replacing all of the sheetrock in rooms that contain plaster which needs patching.

And though the system is imperfect, it does add a measure of protection for all the parties involved. 

I would go with the stain assuming its easier to clean but I look at things from a functional perspective, not so much aesthetic.She also said there are "imperfections" on the wall, puddied up holes from old curtain rods, but that's kind of irrelevant to me for a student rental. 

One of the sayings that stuck out from a podcast that I think has been helpful for me along the way (relative newbie myself, just a handful of SFR houses) has been "Imperfect action over perfect planning". 

But in my due diligence I find too many imperfections such as:Zoning issuesNo building permits pulled with city/countyToo much rehab needed for the priceConventional lenders won't lend on it (non-warrantable condo, two houses on one parcel, etc...)The improvements I want to make aren't allowed by the cityI struggle to find anything that comes close to the 1% rule here in Utah, Wasatch, and Salt Lake counties.