Newbie buying NW Indiana SFH rentals

[James Bitakis]

I am a newbie and looking at SFH's in the Hammond, Highland, Indiana for now. I have come upon a nice 3bd. 1 bath 2 car garage (no basement), 1100 sq. feet for 29K in a nice area of Hammond, In. Rents in this area average 875 for this type of property. This is close to a 3% (well over the 2% rule I've seen here). I am thinking it needs about 15K of work to really look nice. It sold for 88K back in 2004. How does this sound for my first deal? I want to buy and hold it.

Also looking at a nice 3bd. 1148 sq. foot SFH in Highland, IN. (much nicer area) for 58K (no garage, and a mold issue due to a broken pipe). Average 3bd. price for this type of home in Highland is about 100-125K. Should I run from a mold issue necessarily? How much does it cost to fix it?