As soon as the family is out, I will have new mirrored wardrobe doors, new baseboard, new paint and probably new carpet and a few other upgrades.

And 2) We have room in the rehab budget to make substantial upgrades to this property so those of you chiming in who know the market, what are 3 top things renters look for, vs. 3 top things buyers look for?

Maybe put in an upgrade if needed.

It might be replacing cracked tile, upgrading to all GFI in the kitchen, addressing a roof leak, but be prepared that there will be some fixes in the 1st year.  

If I could find another commercial lender that funds short term resales or double closings on 1-4 units for CA residents buying in the greater Chicago area that would be a nice upgrade for my clients.

Purchase price: $285,000 Cash invested: $45,000 Full upgrade remodel.

I have done quite a bit of remodel, upgrade, repair and rehab work on my own primary homes as well as my father in law’s SF rentals over the last 15 years or so.

Furniture upgrades are another we see around this time.

This is a real concern that ordinary people--BP's target audience--have that experienced investors with a healthy diversified portfolio and significant reserves may not need to worry about as much.I don't think that using operational cashflow as the core metric on BP is an error or a misunderstanding, I think it is a conscious choice due to it being a simple and safe metric that minimizes the likelihood of newbie investors experiencing overwhelm or major loss early in their investment careers and going back to "watching dancing with the stars". 

We added a lot of upgrades when we will built it as well as over the last 3 years (accent tile in bathroom, irrigation, privacy fence, shiplap, professional landscaping).