I replaced the flooring, appliances, plumbing fixtures, lighting, re-textured the walls and ceilings and repainted.

I would tell myself to become an expert and marketing/branding from the beginning.

Upgrade lighting if there's any dimly lit areas, install ceiling fans in all bedrooms, replace toilet if its old, new locks on all exterior doors keyed alike, new numbers on mailbox if the other ones are ratty, make sure everything works, no faucets drip, smoke alarms all working and in all the places they're supposed to be.

@Jeff Prather what are your goals with creating this branding? 

His brand and ownership are dictating the rules, just like the online marketplace providers are for STR owners.  

Most of my out of state clients are buy and hold or very light value add investors, and I think that's the most advisable route for remote investing.

I’m hoping folks could shed some light on any benchmarks they’ve noticed along their journey through real estate where banks consider your LLC as self sufficient and no longer tie you to W2 income.

Basically doing the same thing as a real estate broker.good post as usual Don I firmly believe if many of the folks that come on this site put the same time energy and Marketing Money into building their real estate brokerage brand they would have a career for life. 

And the light bill(common area) double from $80 to $165 i don’t understand 

I started getting the rehab done on my unit with paint, flooring, new recessed lighting and new carpet on the spiral stairs done so far.