To demonstrate my technical competence, for my personal house I built a steam shower, installed radiant barriers with rock wool, and a wood stove insert with bathroom radiant heated floors and re-designed radiant floor heat zones, cutting winter energy consumption to 1/8, installed a whole house fan cutting summer energy to 1/2, extensive localized landscaping leading to a reduction to 1/8 the yard work, plus random quality of life improvements like wifi switches, heated floors and toilet seats, skylight install, exposed structural beams, and master bedroom laundry including electrical and plumbing, cathedral ceilings with skylights, a steam shower with wifi controllable lighting and music, concrete countertops, etc. 

We're also doing all bathrooms with new flooring, shower fixtures, vanities, light fixtures and toilets.

You could add shelves with/or a breakfast bar along the empty wall to give it completeness and more functional space and modern look and maybe add lights over the L that makes the room barrier.Since you have water running to that laundry room see if you can put a quarter bath in there along with the washer/dryer.

As an investor with a smaller portfolio I really put a lot of weight on Cash on Cash Return. 

Majority need light renovations but more recently I’ve had some kitchens and bathroom we needed done.

You’ll need to network with boots on the ground nearby, a good cleaner, maintenance person and light manager incase of urgent guest issues, this will still be cheaper than a management company. otherwise I would say look on airbnb to other listings nearby and contact one of those hosts and offer your listing for them to manage, this is still much cheaper than a a management  company and will be honestly more effective.hope this helps feel free to reach out anytime with questionsbest of luck, Mike

Oh, and a few wifi light switches so our outside lights come on automatically plus we can control lights when we're not home. 

We have a significant amount saved up currently, more than enough for light rehab and closing costs without down payments, but multiple down payments would be currently cost prohibitive.

this should not even be a subject to discussion. call the city or have your contractor call the city, find out what the permit requirements are and comply from there. the issues may be non-existant (unlikely) or astronomical - you won't have a buyer when you sell, your insurance will deny your claim because your property is out of compliance, your tenants will sue because something wasn't done to code and someone was injured, the list goes on.I am considering never stopping at a red light.

This is particularly common in two situations: pets and parking.With regard to animals, pet rent is usually charged based on the size and/or weight of the animal.