You're improved expenses won't matter.What's your payback period on the $12k? 

@Jadi Akuti Ultimately that would be the decision of your employer but I would just try to sell them on why you would like to try it out and see if it helps improve your conversations with sellers.

As stated, I would look for other ways to improve curb appeal.

If I were looking at buying a golf course, I'd definitely want to play it first.. which is gonna be kinda hard to do in February, in Ohio 😅The reason is, I'd want to see how nice it is compared to others in the area, how well they're maintaining it (is there room for improvement, or is this as good as it gets?)

The people I know in this area do not want to own any homes and this can improve the quality of tenant at times as they are looking at it as their home.    

My credit will at least start improving.

Or, there are a variety of renovation loan options (FHA, VA and conventional) that allow you to finance the improvements as well as the purchase. 

There's always room for improvement.

But given the lower transparency, you'll learn less about what actually works and how you can improve your due diligence process in the future.I would have to trust a fund manager more than I would have to trust someone who runs a single deal.

This is changing, though, as technology improves.