I am trying to keep costs low, so we are just keeping it the natural oak color and hopefully it turns out beautiful!

Premise Based upon what we have witnessed in conducting commercial property condition assessments (PCAs) and commercial property roof inspections for over 30 years, we can definitely state without reservation that 'An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure' meaning that a commercial property owner or real estate investor is much better off adopting a pro active as opposed to a reactive approach when it comes to maintaining a commercial property that also acts to help extend the serviceable life of major building systems resulting in a substantial savings over the life thereof.

Those can be very costly mistakes but very educational ones as well.The beautiful aspect of real estate investment is that there are multiple strategies that can work for each investor's situation; there is no "one right way."

Focus on function over beauty because there's a chance it will move a lot and tenants generally treat things rougher than you would.

It varies greatly  My parents live in a huge & beautiful home in the ‘Shelby Forest’ area (SF backs up to Meeman-Shelby State Park & there are many homes in Shelby Forest’s extended area up the bluff towards Tipton County that are close to million dollar homes).  

The property is in Chino CA 91710 - definitely not a ritzy Beverly hills place, but has potential to be beautiful.

Now we have a beautiful lake cottage that is sitting.  

That's the beautiful part about it. 

So my finances sisters house is getting foreclosed and they don't care to much (weird I know) but it's on a nice piece of property on a quiet residential block and beautiful neighborhood.

I lived for over two decades in the Seattle area and on Whidbey Island, so I know you are in a beautiful place.