Key items: installed heating system, updated electrical, moved panel to basement, installed new hardwood throughout, renovated whole kitchen.

We toured a duplex in Logan square that had 14k in property taxes and our three-flat in Avondale will be around 13k.

What I do is buy when markets are going up which confirms my hypothesis, buy when it's flat, and buy when it goes down.

So I will say do it right, pick a nice color like SW Agreeable Grey, and paint the ceiling in a flat white like SW Snowbound White.

I include the utilities in the rent as a flat fee, I don't split it up.

our issue is federal panels  not had a big ta do over aluminum wiring.. 

Similar to my above point, this is something you should have anyways.My advice would be to eliminate the guessing and just call up the lender(s) and flat out ask what they are looking for. 

I'm a couple of thousand miles away, but per Home Depot's Web site, at the South Philadelphia store (1651 S Columbus Blvd)...Veranda Linden 6 ft tall x 8 ft long fence panel, 16 @ $69.74 = $1,115.84Veranda Linden line post, 17 @ $31.57 = $536.69Total for those two: $1,652.53 before tax; probably about $1,800 after taxAdd in: bags of concrete to set the posts in, a gate if you need one, a manual post hole digger (or renting a power one)... maybe $2,100 in materials, +/-.Based on the bids you've been getting, that leaves around $2,400 to $3,400 for labor. 

In the four previous recessions home values were either about flat or went up.

If not, you may be able to pay an agent just to list it on MLS (not sure if your MLS posts rentals) but you can usually pay a flat fee and have them do that and direct all inquiries to you.