I told her to find me the property in my budget with the greatest potential for value add.

You can always refinance with a DSCR loan after 3 months of owenrship at the full appraised value.   

Do your own research to determine the value of a specific home.

Now the last tree I had removed was 5 years ago and the arborist took it to a friends house that has a mill where he was planning on milling the tree into oak flooring for a house he was building.My question is should I bother trying to get some value out of this tree one way or another?

Seller financing is not always a cure for a bad deal, unless you can create value. 

You can partner with someone, one deal at a time, and see how the first one goes.Values based decision making, make sure your goals and values align with your partner.

Updating these areas can significantly increase the property's value and rental appeal.2.

You also would perhaps want to focus on value add investments that you can get at a discount but only need cosmetic repairs?

You can look at the after repair value and subtract your costs. for example if it is worth $2M after fixing up, costs $1.5M to build, then the land is worth $500K.2.

Its easier to have investment success in areas with growth, as a rising economy raises all values.