I work for a fee-based management company overseeing institutional investor assets, this one in particular is 650+ individually leased bedrooms with all the trimmings.

If you are gutting kitchens & bathrooms, opening up walls, altering the floorplan, relocating or otherwise upgrading plumbing and electric, and then the plan is to immediately flip the property and you don't wish to get sued into oblivion after the sale if anything should go wrong, then yes, pull permits and used a licensed, bonded general contractor.If on the other hand this is your personal residence and you just want to paint, change some trim and flooring, and freshen up the bathrooms and kitchen without gutting or moving stuff around, then you may be ok without permits.There are many shades of gray between those scenarios too ...

Figure out how to trim expenses.  

Sheetrocking over old lead paint would rarely be an economical solution if the room has doors, windows and trim....which most do.  

"Rental Beige" will really pop if you have white trim / electrical plates but I suspect you have wood trim if built in the early 90's.

So, always throw lipstick on, clean it, change light fixtures, paint something, get rid of trash and trim bushes, whatever, the more you touch it the less "liability" you have in your dealings. :)  

So far we’ve had almost 20 inquiries and have 5 showings lined up for this week.Here are the final rehab numbers; the asterisked jobs are those that we DIY’d.Final Costs: Item Cost Demo/cleaning* $620 Roof work $4,900 Exterior painting $2,600 Concrete repair $1,100 New exterior doors & locks $1,100 Windows $3,500 Drywall $1,200 New bathtubs & associated plumbing/trim kits $1,800 Remodel remainder of two bathrooms (toilets, vanities, & tiling tub surrounds)* $1,150 Interior painting (includes BIN primer on all walls, ceilings & subfloors)* $950 Electric (interior & exterior fixtures; switches & outlets)* $500 HVAC (bath exhaust fan w/ ducting to exterior; central air) $2,800 Flooring (ceramic tile and vinyl plank; refinish stairs)* $2,200 Used kitchen cabinets & appliances* $1,100 Kitchen counters $325 Carpentry (interior doors & knobs, baseboards, trim, etc.)* $550 Sump pump* $175 Landscaping (trimming, mulching, fill dirt)* $50 Safety (CO & smoke detectors; fire extinguisher)* $70 Utility costs during rehab $230 Misc (plywood; insulation)* $250 Tools/Rental equipment $550 TOTAL $27,720 *DIY jobs; the cost listed is for materials onlyI’m disappointed that we came in about $2,700 over budget, but the unexpected cost of replacing both bathtubs was mostly to blame.

Just from looking in the windows I seen all original trim,doors, floors,baseboards, mantals & light fixtures.

I tile the countertops with granite and put a matching wood trim.

. - about painting the front door and I would also include the soffits (trim).