The bank expended $18k in capital, received $54k AND has the property now. 

Invest; Verb  expend money with the expectation of achieving a profit or material result by putting it into financial schemes, shares, or property, or by using it to develop a commercial venture. 

His strategy sounds pretty good, because the people are calling him; he knows the max he's willing to pay, so he's not wasting any time with those that are out of his range, and if he expends a nominal amount of time, and even makes just $1000, it's still profit, with minimal energy expended.

Even if you inherit a billion dollars you still have to expend some effort to manage the money, pay the income taxes create estate planning strategies, etc.  

These increasing fees are pushing out home buyers who don’t have a lot of expendable income for down payments.While the original idea was well-intentioned, there are unintended consequences that is causing a lot of pain for home buyers.

Ok maybe, but this in Austin has to be a mid-term STR 30 days or more and we have to furnish, and pay utilities, internet and expendables (where do we get the extra money to pay these start up cost).  

From a marketing perspective its a question of selling as is and strategically negotiating price for repairs vs. expending a bunch of money right before a sale to anticipate buyer desires. 

The brain cells expended by everyone in this thread are worth more than this deal.