Maybe put a piece of quarter-round or so along the room edge of the mantle to hide the LED strips from view.Maybe, instead of the strip lights, LED cans in the ceiling above the fireplace, but you sort of need two sets so the mantle doesn't cast a big shadow downwards.You might be able to go up into the attic and look down into the room, using the gaps around the chimney/flue. 

Plus we decide case by case what we feel like doing.What we do ourselves (in general) - We paint both interior and exterior, hang and tape drywall (but on the last big drywall job we hired a couple of guys to hang the ceiling pieces), we fabricate and install trim, hang interior doors, install some flooring.

You could try it throughout, but I think people like clear distinctions  of rooms, so I wouldn't recommend it. 

I put laminate in an apartment living room and hall once and it was a major pain trying to snap the pieces around corners and through door-ways.Minna - for future reference, where did you get the laminate you used in the basement?

Sounds like these are a lot of pieces that must come together, but if you can make it happen, more power to ya.If your buyer brings their own financing it would be difficult because banks don't like names on the HUD that are not the seller or the buyer or the RE agent.

One thing I have noticed is that I am constantly going back to my garage for a tool, piece of 2 x 4, etc. to get the job done.

And when NOTHING will work it's necessary to make sure that you kept some decent sized pieces of carpet left over from the installation.

You purchase a home for 100k and that investment will yield a return of 13k per year13% Cash on cash return.Scenario # 2 Finance PurchaseYou split your 100k investment into 5 down payments of 20k a piece and you purchase 5 homes.

You can have automatic renewals of a contract but you can have issues if they are not well thought out and drafted properly.AR contracts mat renew for like terms if notice to terminate is not given, if either party misses that date either party could have regrets.Your contract may have an escalation rent clause, fine, but what happens if some city ordinance or some common practice in your area changes, perhaps from some law suit, you can't modify you lease if it automatically renewed.Any lease that can be automatically renewed beyond 3 years can trigger the due on sale clause of your mortgage too.Automatic renewals may be viewed as a tenant having a first right of refusal by some judge, if any change is required it can be adopted and a tenant barks or they agree they may be viewed as first in line since they live there.Some states cover the issue as well, so I'd suggest doing a new lease each year, for the cost of 6 or 8 pieces of paper it can make like easier. :)

This is a great piece of advice.