If traditional banks aren't providing favorable terms, consider alternative lenders like HML or PML.  

I just have no idea how the contracts work, financing options outside traditional, etc. would love some help.

Upgraded kitchens, bathrooms, and other items that hadn't been touched for years What was the outcome?

You just have to handle cleaners and maintenance items. 

I do not recall any other fees or charges outside of traditional closing costs and they were easy to work with and communicated very well. 

For the most part its just health and safety items, which are items we should have remedied anyways.As someone else mentioned, biggest thing to avoid is having the house tagged as vacant which the city will do if it sits empty for too long (handful of months, grass not cut, etc).

., flushing the wrong items).Also, make sure you do a walkthrough yourself prior to filling the unit.

If you’re close to $150,000 in AGI, a few ways you can bring that down AGI is by maxing out a 401k traditional ($23k for 2024 tax year), maxing out your HSA ($4,150 for 2024 tax year), and if you have any capital losses from stocks (up to $3k per year), I would encourage you to have great bookkeeping to ensure you’re capturing all of your deductions appropriately on your rental property.

The 25K would go towards a rate buy down.As far as accounting for cap ex and maintenance for newly replaced/updated items, I'd still recommend doing it.

Probate in CA is another item last I've heard its around 46K fee for a 1 mil gross estate.