(water is your worst enemy outside of vacancy)A: "funny you ask, as you can see the wall is patched but not finished or painted from a leak that happened upstairs, it's been that way for... 6-7 months."

Value is being added to the deal but rehabbing the cosmetics of the house, kitchen, bath, paint, and floors.

They appear ok at first, but then they peel because the coating on them is not paint. 

Even in the best scenario you would have spent $1,500-$2,000 to update the smoke detectors and C02 testers, cleaned the carpet, re-glaze the bathtub, update any leaks and light paint and wall repairs.  

If needed you can prime an paint the wall with stain blocking paint.

We are furnishing with contract grade quality and amenity heavy (game room/hot tub/murals/new paint/lighting and ALL basics needed to host a 5* stay so all bedding, kitchen items, bathroom items, linen and bedding as well as the labor for trades.

., I have heard of painting walls etc with Kilz and running an ionizer and stripping the popcorn ceiling but what about the AC ducts?

Renovated all apartments, converted M2M tenants to annual leases, instituted strict rental criteria, implemented online payment portal, invested $75,000 into leasehold improvements (HVAC, drainage, exterior paint, concrete.)

Some of the books I've read paint what seems like a pretty rosy picture, so I appreciate this realistic response. 

For example, doing the kitchen,paint and floors in the 2 months before moving in and then moving to bathroom renovations or adding a master suite addition while living in the property.Depending on you jurisdiction and capital you can use the value add house hack to even add an adu to increase the density.