As to your list, these are my personal opinions, from a tenant's point of view, as I now rent:Yes to removing the popcorn ceiling.Don't paint white - you can paint the ceiling & trim white, but paint the walls an off-white, like bone.  

If you want to go that route, your local Real Estate Commissions likely have some bare bones one you could use.

I didn't grow up on it and have worked my fingers to the bone to make sure my family never touched it.  

I think its a GREAT city and endless opportunity.. unlike parts of other cities in the rust best were there are areas that are beyond salvage and will eventually go to pasture.Chicago has these incredible brick homes that were built like tanks.. so great bones.. and the city is not dying.. its thriving.. politics aside... to me in your business this is a never ending land of opportunity.. much more so than we have on the west coast..

But I've always managed to find insurers.You can cover it with vinyl, but if you have a property with nice bones (say a nice, or even a middle class old Victorian) putting vinyl over it may throw off proportions of any attractive molding the building may have.If it's a property on Munjoy Hill/West End of Portland, you may want to consider remediation, as it would likely pay off in increased value/aesthetics/resale.  

It was originally a two-story hardware store.Our units were very bare-bones.  

The owner I worked for used Kelly-Moore bone for all of his apartments and properties.  

I rented bare bones apartments that literally had no balconies, no dishwashers, no internet included,  no laundry onsite (laundromat across the street), and we didn't even have enough off-street parking to assign spaces.  

If you run the numbers and you can charge a justifiable higher rent and get quicker realized depreciation on appliances i could see how someone would land on providing more than the bare- bones i opt to typically provide as almost like another source of revenue for the rental.

They find that there was no leak at all and the ceiling was bone dry with no signs of water damage.