Investor painted floor vs. wood finishing?

Because the investor got the house with the floors painted and knows that it's not a simple fix to sand the floors down.

-- If the floors have never been replaced but were sanded/maintained over the lifetime, they probably can't be sanded anymore. 

There are plenty of reasons to paint rather than refinish a wood floor. The wood may not be in good enough condition to refinish--every time you sand wood it removes a little of the wood--and if you do it enough, or too deeply, it can make the floor creaky and cause uneven surfaces. Paint works well on a lot of older home floors because it fills in cracks, it makes a uniform color surface and it seals the wood.  You can't ALWAYS refinish a wood floor. And your friends next door may have gotten a super deal on that refinishing job--because I just had mine done and it was more than $4K. (three rooms and a staircase). And they did a superb job, too. It's not ALWAYS as cheap as you think. 

Nor is it always "easy" to sand a painted floor. The paint will have seeped into deep cracks, and that's almost impossible to get out by sanding. Shiny floors don't always look better than matte-finish either. It's just a preference, not a rule. If you don't like the floor finish, and you want to buy the house, you should find out first if the paint can even BE sanded off, and the floor re-finished--or just replace it with new hardwood, or (ugh) laminate. 

Maybe it was already that way when he bought it, so he spent $0 to change it.

I would stay awy and look for another property... not a good 'investor' if they have spent 3 yrs sitting on a property and what they told you is nonsense, triple the costs of 'refinishing' IF the floors are good enough order to refinish and my guess is they are not, so cover up poor quality with paint at a fraction of cost of refinishing or more likely they need completely new floors

I would question the $1,000 to refinish the wood floors. 

Wood floors can only be sanded so many times before needing replacing.  They may be at that point.

It's also possible the floors were penetrated with something that deeply stained/damaged them such as bleach or fire or animal piss or blood or even paint.

If you buy the house, plan on the floors needing replacing.  If they don't, you'll be pleasantly surprised.  But don't take the seller's word on the matter.   If you really want to be vigilant, get a floor person out there to take a look.  For all you know they're not even hardwood floors.  They could be a hardwood laminate.

P.S.   Nothing says "penny pincher" more than a chain link fence.   They provide zero privacy, no noise reduction and are ugly.   It's what people who are too cheap or broke do when they don't want to pay for wood or other more attractive and functional fence.   A chain link fence is like putting a big dog kennel on your property.  Trashy.

An investor buys and sells quickly, they don't spend time or money on finishes.

People are lazy.   And people are cheap.   Most people won't spend the money to give a house what it really needs.   Instead, they look for fast fixes.