Probate in CA is another item last I've heard its around 46K fee for a 1 mil gross estate.  

It is a rare off-market property that does not involve work and/or have risk items.  

It's also important to remember that low maintenance costs don't last forever, and that will an increase expense item as time passes. 

Upgraded kitchens, bathrooms, and other items that hadn't been touched for years What was the outcome?

You just have to handle cleaners and maintenance items. 

If I were you (and you meet the items listed above), I would definitely still move forward with licensing since you already have the property.

I've even heard of GCs using auction type settings for returned items at Home Depot and Lowes for steep discounts.I've learned a lot about the GC game as I was up close to over 40 projects last two years and some went well and some did not and when they did not it was all Contractor related.If a GC isn't sourcing cheap materials at the same time milking the hell out of his 150-200 per day workers, then you can find yourself eating into your margins real fast. 

For the most part its just health and safety items, which are items we should have remedied anyways.As someone else mentioned, biggest thing to avoid is having the house tagged as vacant which the city will do if it sits empty for too long (handful of months, grass not cut, etc).

The 25K would go towards a rate buy down.As far as accounting for cap ex and maintenance for newly replaced/updated items, I'd still recommend doing it.

Covering most of the routine maintenance items here.