My excitement to get started lead me to reach out to people prematurely with no real plan (I hate when people waste my time too).

Probably just saved me a lot of wasted time! 

Now if it were something like punching holes in the walls or kicking the water closet loose from the mounting bolts, etc...that's something different. 

What I did:Painted walls and ceilings with sherwin williams superpaint dover white.Trim and kitchen wainscoting was painted with super paint semi gloss white.Ripped out plaster tub surround and replaced with cement board that was waterproofed and tiled.Replaced some missing shingles on garage roof.Replaced old shower valve with single handle valve.Replaced garbage disposal.Replaced old outlets/switches with new white outlets/switches/plate covers.Jacked up sagging portion of house and sistered three of the joists and replaced the rotted sill plate.Removed vinyl tile from laundry floor and painted the concrete with grey floor paint.Before photos:  Apologies if they are sideways or upside down...The after photos can be seen on my zillow ad, https://www.zillow.com/homes/17439-cicotte_rb/88664724_zpid/?

Wall st. 

but these guys wouldn't give me any info on the people, once I found out they were there. it's a long story, but I was so sick of trying to argue obvious things to a brick wall that I offered to let them use their last months rent for February with no notice. they wrote up the contract that night along with something saying the verbal agreement we made was binding, and included a signed copy of the witnesses statement.

Reduced security deposit of no more than 50% of a month's rent.I see the writing on the wall and am already heading this direction.

Installed 700 sqft of LVP from Lowes for a total of $2,250 installedInstalled 4 new cabinets in the new kitchenette for $800Painted the entire interior trim/ceilings/walls for about $500 - did this ourselvesPainted the entire exterior for about $500 - also did this ourselves Still to come: New countertops for downstairs and upstairs - $2,500 installedElectrical panel upgrade and other electrical - $3,000Fence - $4,500Front deck - $2,500 We've learned a lot from this project and I would say two major takeaways right now are:Find better deals so that you can avoid doing any of the labor yourself and focus on finding future dealsFind a better GC relationship instead of trying to half GC ourselves and half GC with a GCWe're running into some trouble with the refinance at this point due to a lot of lenders putting a pause on their rental loans for investment properties.

Example: Room sizes that may have been adequate in the early 1920's but for today's market just won't work, so you end up tearing down a wall to expand a room or the entire property being heated by a boiler. 

We even installed a french-drain and retaining wall to help prevent a return of the foundation issues.