It was by no measure easy, but as an agent you're only limited by your creativity, and your willingness to put in the work. 

Visit that LADBS office and inquire with Planning and Building & Safety staff what your options are for improvement.

Portfolio lender's may differ, not sure if they'd look at your income, debt to income or the debt service coverage ratio, which is usually measured as net income from the rental property divided by the loan payment.

So instead Laurie sent out for do-it-yourself cabinets, careful to measure everything as best she could.

Some people are chasing yield and others are chasing safety.  

It makes more sense to me that cap rate is a measure of risk whereby the higher the property cap rate the riskier it is.

Oh, and one more for good measure - ask them if all their fire hydrants are in good working order and have been inspected.

You are under no obligation to fix anything else, but you may want to send over a handyman to look at the windows (a little WD-40 may do the trick), replace the light bulbs, the garage door and the bathroom window (could be a health and safety item). 

I always thought this was perfectly fine until I came across a realtor a few months ago who balked at asking for a reduction in the purchase price based on something that came up in the inspection report (a safety issue; I let many other items pass which were less serious or which I felt were accounted for in the original, agreed-upon price).

To accomplish this you have to demonstrate that you know what you are doing, the purchase is at an excellent price, and you realistically forecast a profit including a margin of safety.