what materials cost a bit less but are good for rentals/wear and tear. what simple things do you do on most of your rentals?

Many times they get discounts, then mark up the cost a little.  

Those 3 things cost a total of probably $10k but added $25k in value (in my opinion). 

It is a lot to learn and cost a bit to get into in total.

If you make a mistake that cost a couple thousand dollars, you will really learn and better yourself for the next opportunity.

my two cents: stage the house. if you were going to sell your car, taking out $20 to clean it and shine up the interior will increase it's price. the same for real estate, the exterior and look will drive up price as opposed to say an old HVAC system which won't drive down the cost as much if visitors love rhe way your kitchen set up looks like.other thought is to remember and to me more importantly than whether or not to stage your house, this is your business. everyone i've talked to says real estate investing starts out making so much sense theoretically then becomes a huge pain UNTIL they have networked enough to find themselves surrounded by the right team. there are parts of this business you rightly will want to outsource because professionals in those fields can do it better and more efficiently than you. in this case it looks like you need to take charge of your business and hire a better real estate agent and hire out the parts you need to get the deal dine including getting a professional stager.in my opinion (without knowing any other facts), those people who aren't submitting offers not because of the price so dropping your price may not make a difference. something else is going on there.

Using media mail it would cost a lot less than buying the books.

We want to put as much cost as possible into the property now as to write it off as expenses before we move in.  

And that wasn't even in a period of recession, just poor choices on their part that cost a large number of people millions of dollars. 

The home remodeling effort will cost a lot more.