Recently (last year) I hired a management company to help me out as my day job working in IT has consumed much of my time and I wanted more time to spend with my daughter.

My margins in this area are significantly higher than rehab investment costs so If I can spend 4K in product to get 10K more in value then I great. 

That way the money will be there when needed, and you won't be tempted by a large general bank account balance to spend money that should be allocated for major work.  

You might end up spending $50K. 

Along the way, I would also like to help as many people as I can realize that they can achieve financial freedom through investing.I'm a total square, spending most of my free-time reading about real estate, the economy, politics, and every so often wasting my time with video games.

As already mentioned spend as much time possible learning and then putting that information into action!  

One more thing, don't be afraid to spend money on your real estate education, just don't pay any gurus thousands of dollars for a sales pitch.

What should I spend a little extra on to make sure I get a high appraisal?

I couldn't see spending the the extra money to justify a difference of $38 between the 2 rates.

., resident in the forums.Click on the "Education Tab" at the top of the page, and you could be spending many hours on the Information that is available.Raymond