The costs of such maintenance and repairs shall be allocated as follows: *The cost of repairs, maintenance and improvements, which are less than or equal to Five Hundred and no/100 Dollars ($500.00) per repair shall be paid by Tenant.

I am interested in ideas for improving the curb appeal of this property.

There are lots of Joint Venture programs out there; Dani Beit with Simply do it and John Majalca with www.texascashflow.com; just do your homework in getting investor references (not the people who work for them like lenders or title companies), check them out if they say they are realtors (check license), google their name, phone and emails (make sure they are not scam reports about them.

My mother recently passed away leaving her home to my aunt and I as joint tenants.

Then I was hooked bought a rental jointly with an older guy who was a realtor because the bust made him lose his construction company. 

If you do not qualify now the broker should be able to tell you what you need to improve in order to become qualified.

Passive income can help you pursue your real passion, but who knows, you may become passionate about aspects of real estate:  providing jobs, improving communities, the big checks, the tax savings, or the travel?

Investing 20-25 percent of your own money provides some equity which helps cushion the leverage (in addition to any improvements you make to force appreciation) and it eliminates the need to pay private mortgage insurance.

Be talkative and use it as an excuse to leverage your current environment.At the end of the day, money spent on self-improvement usually is never a bad investment. 

I plan on wrapping it in vinyl siding next year, which should greatly improve the outside view.