About the areas to invest in thats a huge long explanation, its better if you buy the books and read them, at MHU under 600 bucks you can understand how to read and pick markets.

I'm curious what type of landscaping would be attractive to renters, but also get you the most bang for your buck?

That gets best bang for buck.

This process is 100% administrative, and cost less than a couple hundred bucks, and can be approved in as little as two weeks. 

And strategies to get the best bang for your buck.

So I won't mind spending the ten bucks to rent a house to a quality tenant.But if it's just free you're looking for, Craigslist is still free.

The buyer asks "Can I grow tomatoes and put them at the street for a buck a bushel".

The buyers got a lot of bang for their buck and so did I.

The buyers got a lot of bang for their buck and so did I.

So on a $100k loan amount you's pay $2000 - $4000 up front at closing (the points), in addition to the cost of document prep (mortgage, promissory note, etc - which can be a couple thousand bucks), and any origination fees, underwriting fees, etc charged by the lender (more common with "institutional" HMLs that with smaller individual HMLs), then $1000/mo interest only payments ($100k times 12%, divided by 12 mos).