As result I wrote down a question, to myself, "Why don't I ask someone for money to finance my first deal?". 

Be sure to stay active on the forums to get the best results.

They won't have the paint to match anyway.  

As you probably have seen on my other posts, I owner finance my houses in these run down areas with really good results.

congrats on your journey. in my experience i have refinished hw floors and installed thousands and thousands of square feet of laminate floors. the issue i have found with laminate floors is if they ever require a repair down the road it is unlikely you will be able to get an exact match for the floor you installed  X years ago. hardwood floors can be refinished several times and look great when done right. you assumption on carpet is pretty accurate. we tend to install a mid-grade carpet (not the cheapest carpet available)  and as long as tenant did not totally trash it we have been able to get it cleaned and in some cases even dyed it a different color if we could not get the stains out but yes we replace a lot of carpet after tenants leave. 

She wants to do the inspection first and then consider my offer price based on inspection results.  

The end result is, I didn't lose money in a bad situation but a hard lesson: If it is too far for me to want to spend my energy and time on, it isn't for me.

My broker is an investor as well, but he gave me access to the MLS...... looking for tips for criteria to narrow down the search results.

Bless their hearts though, they really struggle with getting positive results that experienced note investors achieve routinely.  

All of this is assuming the property is dated and in need of those types of visual improvements.Always keep in mind you are much better off matching renovations of the higher price point within your area, but not doing more.