Are they actually going along with their plan to renovate and restore the area around the train station?

Restoration companies typically know many of these things and could possibly be of help to you.  

The property is a duplex, which from my estimate; only needs new appliances (washer, dryer, stove, refrig), restoration of front exterior wooden steps, and a new fence around the property for more curb appeal.Looking for thoughts/facts on how to increase value?

However, and someone please call me out if I understand this incorrectly, you can't just refi your way to restored VA eligibility.

At Restoration Hardware they were 700 a pop.

The seller mentions they will be taking a loss since they've clearly put a lot of money into rehabbing and restoring it.

On March 8, 2017 my property is now restored and is back in service.The HOA's master insurance policy dealt with the repair to the building structure.  

My experience with property management.My OKC property caught fire once and it took six months of coordination with the restoration company and the PM to completely fix the house.  

This is why (I think) in any given market the listed MF properties will all show the same CAP rate- if they want to sell the property they massage the asking price to be just higher than a bank will want to pay based on the income in that market.  

I have a friend who tried to do it the stealthy way, and the ''departments'' came in and made him restore it back to a garage.