We want to use an extra bedroom as a bed and breakfast / vacation rental, not necessarily to live off the income but to supplement a little, create some chores for our kids, and just meet lots of people from around the country.

Hey folks - I'm on the hunt for hiring a land surveyor that A) Has time in the next week to do the survey, if possible B) Is somewhat reputable.Doesn't have to be an "official" survey as we want to see if we have reason to believe this property has an extra couple hundred square feet.

What should I spend a little extra on to make sure I get a high appraisal?

I couldn't see spending the the extra money to justify a difference of $38 between the 2 rates.

We also install extra grab bars in the bathroom.

The last two short sales that I bought took a little longer than normal to close (roughly 3 months), but other than that there really wasn't any extra work on my part. 

I recently made an offer at ~46% of the original asking price, and wound up buying it for ~63% with some extra land thrown in - after the owner countered my first offer by raising his asking price.And find off-market deals - the MLS is tough, especially right now.

Where you can charge extra to provide water.

Take the extra cash and see if you can build a MF.  

Eventually they will come back up, and some of the folks that refinanced to an ARM may not be able to cover the difference, so some of the extra cash that's in the market may dry up as well.