The staging gives configuration/space/layout options.

We go see the house, we love the lay out.

On the wanting more expensive amenities, maybe lay out a long-term budget and plan showing her the difference in how fast you can end up in your dream home when sticking to a lower budget vs putting the high end amenities now. 

If you design the layout of all of them the same, you can get even more savings...potentially.

Lay out the driveways and parking spots. 

Try and find a local mom and pop shop who doesn't have all this overhead and I bet you can shave at least 1 to 2k off the price...For any kind of CapeX I ALWAYS get at least 3 estimates...Sure it stinks to have to lay out this money all at once, hopefully you have a credit card you can finance at least a portion of it so you don't leave yourself with no cash reserves....30 years is fantastic to get out of a Central AC system...

Depending on the layout of the house, I would like to have a roommate or a renter in a partitioned section of the house.

It's simple to you and clean PDF layout.

One was on a nice street, had a nice layout, and didn't need that much work.

I'm curious to know what your 2 unit looks like as the converted rowhomes can be a little hard to work the layouts in.