First Time Property Owner - What would you expect?

[Adam Grego]

Hi All, first time EVER real estate owner. So, I decided why not find a place where I could get a lot of people's input on the potential of a property I now have. 

So to break it down let me start with the area, it is in a small town, the building itself holds 4 rental units. The first floor is a commercial space (could be turned into an apartment if I so choose) with 3 apartment units above it. 1 unit is practically a studio, 2nd unit is full blown 2 bedrooms, bath, living room, kitchen. 3rd unit is a 1 bedroom and 1 bath with a kitchen. The building itself from the outside is relatively nice looking, its old but the paneling and paint job are in good shape. Inside is rough to say the least but with some elbow grease and renovation, it could be relatively nice for the area. The average rent for the area this building in is 550-650 for a studio, 750 for the 1 bedroom 1 bath, 850-950 for the 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, kitchen and living room, and 500-600 for the commercial area. 

The town itself isn't the greatest, (Drug bust, prostitution ring literally broken up about a month ago a few doors down, as well as a shooting that occurred in a lot over about 2 years ago), but there is money being put into the area and real effort to rejuvenate what once was actually a pretty lively area, for example, 2 new apartment buildings are being built in an empty lot 2 doors down within the next month. 

I'm mortgaging the property for 90,000. This mortgage plus taxes (5,000 a year) and property management fees (175 a month) would at most cost me 1100 to 1200 a month to upkeep. 

My long-term plan is to collect this money, bank it and use it to renovate each unit one at a time slowly (as to not rock the boat with the current 2 tenants) Eventually in resulting in a building worthy of charging some premium rent prices for the area. 

Given the numbers (I understand that I am sure I'm missing some information, but based off what I supplied) what are peoples thoughts on this property potential? Should I stick with it for the long haul? Look to flip it in a year? 

What would you do, or expect from a property like this?

Thanks for any and all input, and sorry for the long post.