My friend who will be relocating is fresh out of college and doesn't have much experience but I'm looking to help him out.  

Their insurance policy exists to indemnify you and bring you financially whole because of their action/inaction.Now, IF the tenant let their policy lapse and you were not notified, you'll probably need to take them to small claims for your deductible--may as well sue for eviction at the same time and start over with new tenants in a fresh house.

I am 21, freshly graduated, and living in Santa Monica with ~$30k saved up for this.

To conclude, I'm not saying investing remotely is a bad idea, but it sounds like your expectations have too much wishful thinking baked into it.

Fresh paint, new lighting, new floors, kitchens and bathrooms up to par with the rent amount, anything extra that could entice renters whether it is a place for them to store their bike or a designated area under the steps for a dog bed.

That is something that concerned me; but I guess the declining population has occurred over several decades so the risk is baked into the price.

But the gurus always have fresh victims, I mean students, filling up the seminars. 

So I modified the layout with a completely fresh idea and it also turned out amazing.

Another thing that works great is warm water with baking soda, i don't put it in spray bottle cause it will plug it up.

The old contractor kept adding change orders and ran it up so we found a new one and everytime we started from scratch, the last payment to the old contractor didn't count and we had to start fresh.