The second kitchen looks like fresh paint will do wonders for the cabinets and the laminate counter top can be resurfaced as well.

You also might want to look at filling in the room since no one really uses them anymore, and like you said, it's a bit of a creep dungeon.The porch's concrete could just be resurfaced.

In my experience it usually means heavy smoke/mold/water/stain damage throughout.. to the point the drywall is 'discolored' to the point needs replacing, ditto for fixtures especially enamel, porcelain, laminate, wood, etc usually need to be rippd out or at least resurfaced... definitely usually more than 'needs a paint job'

This was proposed by the bi partisan debt commission recently and will resurface, but not until after the 2012 elections.Cuts in defense budget are also certain to follow.

For example,  I had a bathroom redone, I also had our front iron railing fixed (new feet welded in, cleaned and painted) and resurfaced the cement steps, and some landscaping.  

We will be rehabbing the bathroom, kitchen, resurfacing floors, painting and adding a privacy fence. should add 20K or more to the property value.

Who pulls work permits for replacing lawns with mulch, for resurfacing driveways, and for installing Pavers? 

this one actually came a few weeks ago. it's an interesting story.i was on vacation with my son in florida while my wife stayed back during the xmas holiday to rent out 3 houses. we had just fired our agent who we used to just list and show the houses on the MLS.anyway, while i was in florida i saw a 2k sq ft house in livonia that had an in-ground pool. the house showed super rough and the pics were terrible. it was listed for 189.9ki texted my wife and said "go and buy this house". she called the agent and he said "been on the market for 3 weeks, no calls. has 5 bedrooms".we had been looking for a long time for a larger home for us and she jumped at the chance to see it. it ACTUALLY Has 6 bedrooms, not 5. the listing was wrong.i offered 100k, no inspections. they came back at 132. we settled on 122k, pulled a loan so that we could preserve the rest of the cash for the future purchases. closed 4 weeks later (mid february)ARV on this house is close to 230k.I knew i could not start working on this house until about June. i also knew that it would take about 30-40k to fix it how i want it fixed for us to move in there, so that meant we could move there in august.2 weeks ago we went out to dinner and while driving i had an epiphany. i told my wife, "we will rent this house AS IS, no updates besides filling in the pool for $1,300. rent it for 1 yr, while the MLS dries up". this house updated could rent for $1,800-$2,100 per month.she texted immediately tenants in #4 and offered to them to move in this large house since they need the extra room. they signed a 2 yr lease last week and they are ECSTATIC.I will rent #4 and increase the rent from $1,100 to $1,300 since they have been there for 4 yrs.the tenants already resurfaced the floors at #25, will put pergo in the living room and change carpet upstairs. here's the pool - all 41k gallons of it. 2" pump is about to pump it out.here it is uncovered, pumping away.here is my concrete guy who is filling this pit as i type.the moral of the story.... just have multiple options. and be patient. is it nice to have a huge house so that you can spend 10s of thousands to fill it up with furniture?

I can't remember exactly what we spent since it was a lot of sweat equity but we painted the interior, exterior, replaced counters, vanities, carpet, resurface hardwood floors, re sod the backyard, landscaped, new roof (got the insurance to pay for it) and custom closet.  

Replaced floors with tile throughout, new counter tops, paint throughout, resurfaced kitchen cabinets, baseboards, ceiling fans and lighting.