That is often a matter of opinion and will depend on the attitude of your municipality.Most municipalities do not require neighborhood approval, but will offer the public opportunities to provide input which will be considered.

I think this totally depends on the investor and how many projects they are doing in a given year.

It really is a minefield out there.I know everyone likes the convenience of the web, and they are tired of hearing it, but this really is a business based on relationships, not online anonymity.

Valuation depends on your market = i.e. volume of STR supply and regulations. 

Depending on the class of property and types of tenants you have, they may not take lightly to you going in and blocking off their thermostats or installing electric heaters to bump the cost of heating into their electric bill. 

When it comes to furniture/design it depends.

It would depend on the nature of the repair.

So depending on how much you pay for it, you can assess your cashflow.

@Blair Ross Jr depends on how much experience you have with investing in rental properties.

Deduct NEW property taxes after you buyDeduct home insurance costsDeduct maintenance percentage, typically 10%Deduct vacancy+tenant nonperformance percentage(we recommend 5% for Class A, 10% Class B, 20% Class C, good luck with Class D)Deduct whatever dollar/percentage of cashflow you wantNow, what you have left over is the amount for debt service.Enter it into a mortgage calculator, with current interest rate for an investment property, to determine your maximum mortgage amount.Divide the mortgage amount by either 75% or 80%, depending on the required down payment percentage - this is your tentative price to offer.If the property needs repairs, you'll want to deduct 110%-120% of the estimated repairs from this amount.Be sure to also research the ARV and make sure it's 10-20% higher than your tentative purchase price.As long as the ARV checks out, this is the purchase price to offer.It is probably significantly below the asking price.