I recently had an estimate of $20,000 to create a basement egress window and I put my foot down and told my GC that I was going to rent the excavator, and we found much cheaper supplies, and were doing the project ourselves.

Make sure the bedroom has legal egress in case of a fire, either a legal sized window to the outside or a door. 

There are companies that are vertically integrated that can walk you from start to finish with the investment so naturally the interests will be mutually aligned.

I’m a new landlord in CA and missed the 21 day window to return the security deposit (I thought I had 30 days).

The 45 day ID window seem tight but it is not if you have a good agent on your side looking for properties and being in constant communcation.  

But there is hope... if you drive through the 4th ward area, you can clearly tell which properties are owned (single family homes with kept lawns and neatly decorated) and which properties are rentals (usually a broken window or two, falling apart porches, messy yards)... the closer to the single family-dense parts in the 4th ward, the better chance you have of getting a rental property that hasn't been laid to waste that you can purchase for a fairly cheap price. 

You’ll probably need to budget between 1% and 3% of the rental’s purchase price per year to fix leaky pipes, busted doors, broken windows, and similar items.Then, you’ll need to budget for capex reserves.

It is regional, but I find some of the newer homes where I am have more open living areas, but the bedrooms are smaller as are some of the lot sizes.To get a new mortgage, your rates are likely going to go up, but if the new home was well built, you shouldn't have to worry about things like new windows or a new roof for a while.

New windows and doors, new kitchen, updated bathroom, new HVAC, new flooring and paint and finished the attic with flooring and heating/cooling.

Roof, siding, entry doors, windows had already been upgraded.