New to real estate..Cash flow help!!

[Anibal Zapata]

Hello BP, My parents and I need help. Well to start off I'm fairly new in the Real Estate world but I understand the potential in owning real estate is to develop Cash flow by renting it out for more than the full mortgage value. Unfortunately, my parents haven't been taking advantage in this opportunity. They currently own two properties not including the one we live in now. One is an apartment in Miami,fl and the another is a house in Hall county, Ga. The apartment has 750 sq ft and its a 2x2 property and its market value is about 75k its mortgage $851 including association fees and property tax and they are renting it out for just that. I went online and the average rent in that neighborhood for those same apartments are going for an average of $1253 (according to Zillow.com). The house in Georgia, a much worse problem, its a 4x2.5 with a full basement mainly used for storage. Its location is in one of the top rated neighborhoods in the United States (sterling on the lake). Its mortgage is $1617 that includes property tax, fumigation and association fees. My parents are renting it out for $1350 and the average rent for that type of house in that neighborhood is $1800(according to Zillow.com). As you can see my parents are leaving a lot of Cash flow opportunities on the table and are even losing money on a property. The lease contract for the apartment expires on April of this year but were hoping to terminate the contract earlier because of the current renters troubles in paying the rent on time. And the contract for the house in Georgia is a month to month contract. BP we need help in how to handle these properties so we can properly and legally start producing the correct amount of Cash flow. Like for example what documents or contracts we need to properly do this? What can we do to these current renters of the apartment? Do we need a lawyer throughout this process?My parents main concern is finding potential renters that would pay those averages and risking the properties being vacant.These are my parents properties not mine but would like to help manage them, the smart way, so they can start generating Cash flow so they can start saving for retirement. As you can see we need a sense of direction and help will be greatly appreciated, Anibal