A coat of paint goes a long way to sprucing it up.

[2]  Do you know the difference between a 16 penny nail and a roofing nail and a finishing nail?

I digress....My general contractor is very poor at responding/communicating and I deeply regret not doing more about this sooner but since August this is what he has done:replaced the shinglesreplaced the heat pump unitsealed the flat roof with elastomeric coating, but got the silver material all over the dark brown gutters so it looks horrendousReplaced the outside A/C unitReplaced the well motor/pump, but no further testing of the well or plumbing has been done.This is what I have done (keep in mind, I have a full time job and also run a small side business):Built a new front door from scratch (it was pointed and not rectangular so no off the shelf options).

We hired a company to steam clean the tile/grout floors and it was worth every penny.

Remember, everything is negotiable in a sale so "not paying closing costs" can be part of any of your counter offers and would have nothing to do with it being a FSBO or not.There has been a lot of good advice already in this thread, and I agree with @David Faulkner, if you're asking these questions you should probably get an agent.If you get a good agent working for you, it is worth every penny you pay them.  

Agents and property managers make pennies on rental fees.

The repairs that I could see from the walk through were minimal, carpet - I'm considering removing the carpet in all the units and getting the wood floors sanded and refinished, paint, tenting the place to get rid of pests, replacing the cabinets in two of the units - the rest need re-staining (or a fresh coat of paint),  some outlet covers, light fixtures, things like that. 

. #4 Can a seal coat get you through the winter?

It doesn't matter if they are in school or licensed  professional it doesn't matter if they wear a white coat or green coat or purple coat I am always going to get three bids/quotes.

I've seen and heard it time and time again regarding some neighborhoods that if a house sits vacant very long, copper, fixtures, air conditioners, wiring, and I've even seen toilets come up missing!