It sounds like your experiences match mine: give them what they would have at home, use quality stuff, make life easy.

The bank I am currently working with initially told me 30% but when I told them another was willing to go with 20% down they matched it.

You want to use painter who is investor/builder oriented to best match up with your type of work/operation.

Some fear that a tenant will answer questions just to match your criteria, but we haven't found that to be the case.

It's best to have a large and diverse cash buyers list that can match what you find.

We are both very committed and have the same values and we think it's a good match. 

In other words, you need to analyze markets based on finding one(s) where the market profile matches the criteria defining your financial needs. 

Your Market Analysis will tell you where to invest by matching that market's financial and REI profiles (there will be more than one) with the "needs" of your plan at any given time in your plan.4 - Learn How Money Works. 

I know most will suggest not painting brick but I don’t think pant removal is in the budget and when I look at the side not painted already, I’m not impressed with the appearance of the brick.Also, it is on a dead end street in a rural area with about 10 other brick ranches (none painted) and I think a stylish gray with matching new roof will make it stand out.  

What questions do you ask to figure out if they will be a good match, and what do you learn from their response?