We told we are reasonable people can pay him a grand and nothing more.

Buy a used car for 5 grand.

A few grand in landscaping and some color accents (maybe a brightly colored door?)

and even if the offer is no contingency you only lose a grand or two on EM deposit.. cost of doing business.you cant go at it the way your thinking about it  Knowing all the numbers before you even offer on it..here is some round numbers to use.8% sales costs   2% holdingthen plug in rehab  and on a smaller prop like that it cant be much over 20 to 25k other wise its not a deal anyway to start with.. that takes all of 60 seconds.. make your offer  then drill down.. that's how you compete in todays very brisk market.. 

Now I'm not suggestion you go all out and spend five grand on every window in trim.

I'm not implying the roof would need immediate work... but adding a layer of shingles only runs a few grand... the problem is, if there's 2 or 3 layers already on you can't simply do that.  

I'm new to the real estate game, with a grand total of zero deals lol I've wanted to get into real estate for years and never made a move.

This house may be able to be put back into shape for a few grand and rented again.  

You might be able to squeeze $10 or 15k out of your hundred grand by February using that sort of approach timing it well.

How many of the rehabs you have estimated came in a couple grand or more under real cost?