@Andrew Kerr -- At what point do you typically measure for and order kitchen cabinets and countertops?  

If you like what you hear, try them out.Moving on... we bought the 678sqft home with scratched up hardwood floors, an old kitchen and bathroom, old rugs in the basement, and a green second bathroom in the basement (yes, its green).This was a great home for just my wife and I.

We said you didn't need it, so there's a good thing there's no payment for it.But, should something come up, be it an investment opportunity, or an emergency beyond how liquid you normally stay, your kitchen just got destroyed but the insurance claim is going to take 2-3 months and your kids are hungry tonight, tenant destroyed the place and you want to turn it over as fast as possible, etc, you can click your mouse 3 times and dump $100k into your checking account, or $20k, or whatever, and only pay interest on the amount you use.Another good use-case for a HELOC is when/if you're about to disqualify yourself from getting a normal 1st position Fannie type loan.In almost all cases where someone is sitting on a bunch of equity, they should at least have a HELOC.

Then we went to turn on the water, and the lines had broken under the slab, with he design of the home to only way to fix this was to jackhammer up the slab, which before we were done resulted in a gutted kitchen and bathroom with 4 yards of new concrete needed.

We offered to make repairs and replace the vinyl flooring in the kitchen, bath and hallway (which the dogs had scratched through to the subfloor). 

Usually they'll say new carpet completely remodeled, they will have updates, new kitchens etc. figure out who owns those properties.

We place water alarms in all of our units in key places, such as under the kitchen sink, at the base of the hot water heater, and near washing machines.

Deals are made across the kitchen table, face to face with a seller. 

His previous tenant moved out in November and he had another lined up to move in, however, there was a major leak in the kitchen that he doesn't want to deal with.

For example: You're sitting at the kitchen table of a motivated seller.