It was required if you planned on doing a job larger then several square inches on a wall and on a building built before 1970's (forget which exact year), which looks like you are doing.

you can go online and see how many BTU's is need for the square footage of the house to see if it's adequate and check size of yoursI don't think the landlord is in violation of your housing regulations for your state.. you can ask the landlord if he has a window A/c unit to supplement,  And ask him to have his service tech come out to inspect the unit. 

If you did the same thing with 100 houses, you may see some higher rent but if the house across the street just sold for "x" price and it had similar square footage and layout in same neighborhood, you may not see a higher price for it.  

Did you get your foot into the Mason county market?

Frequently, there's just not enough data available, so I slowly increase the search radius and time frame.I spreadsheet my comps, with columns for beds, baths, square feet, lot size, basement type, septic (public / private), garage, days on market, REO or Short sale, condition, sale price, $/sq ft.In general, I try to get the same style home, but at least comp 2 story homes with other 2 story homes, ranches with other single story homes, etc.I also throw out any comps that are either inexplicably low or high prices.I include 3 sections in my comps - the subject property, sold properties and thos currently on the market (your competition).I've attached on that I just did on an exceptionally hard property. 

We have intense winters here so I'm worried that the lower unit will be chilly under foot with tile in the kitchen.

East Lansing is low crime on their report and there are some areas of Lansing that are higher, and that all squares with my own experiences in those areas.Farther out, I recently drove down to ATL for a job interview and I decided to do a little recon there and in Greenville, SC.

If your lender wants some more formal protection, then yes you'd need to offer them the 2nd lien, title to your car, or at a minimum free foot rubs for a year.

Received cash next day to square up rent and late fee!!

Portion out based on square footage of each unit.