They turned them into as many units as they could, mostly tiny studios and a few one-bedrooms.Initially, his tenants were Portuguese fish factory workers, before the university grew to end up across the block.  

Another factor is 50k commission and appx 20k other sale expenses.

One important factor is the vibe your getting from being the one actually dealing with this senerio.

We have several colleges, large national factories, speedways, concert arenas, government agencies and all that any other large city would have.

Another factor is that they are trying to stay in the same school district though I know that's not my responsibility, I know it can be hard to find a decent priced place in this area.I understand that neither of these might be considered a great candidate as I've read a lot about what minimum requirements should be but I believe that both of these would be good after running all the background checks.  

Anything I can do to minimize the number of tenants and thus decrease this wildcard factor is worth it.

The only nice painted cabinets I've seen have come from the factory that way.Leave the homemade island or kill it - maybe replace it with a semi-cheap table style island with matching granite top (or just remove it altogether and fix and floor damage creating more open space)What is my biggest bang for buck?

This would be due to the higher "hands on factor."

We own 4 vacation rentals and even though some are 3 bedroom. we offer them to couples for less $ as we find there is a big market for it, the damage and hassle factor is much lower, we offer reduced rates in off season to return guests, and the retired couples tend to return more often than the families. 

I had just assumed income would play a huge factor.