Thank you so much for your time and energy in your replies.  

Check with your electric company and see if they offer rebates for installing these energy efficient systems.

In September my daily routine consisted of working 10 hour days knee-deep in mud, laying water and sewer pipe (the only plus side was that I had a lot of time to listen to the bigger pockets podcast), and dealing with people who drained my energy. 

If it's a good tenant, keep them in place or have room to add value in the future and boost rents significantly.

We completely transformed the interior and exterior of the home, adding features like tile backsplash, tiled tub & shower, master bath en suite with dual walk-in shower, new energy-efficient vinyl windows.

As to doing Fix/renovations, there is a relationship to development and would most likely boost your learning curve.If development is your goal, I think that your steepest potential learning curve is to find your way into a party or entity that is doing development work.

You want the tenant to invest their time and energy into an application for a property they haven't even seen.

A lot of people mistakenly believe that turning that system off when they leave the house is the most energy efficient. 

If you know you are going to unload it in a few years you could also try for an interest only 5/1 ARM or something, which would boost your cashflow but leave you with no equity paydown.

Not half bad.Ultrashort ETFs can boost you up a little bit further past 2, but comes with added volatility.Bond market is precarious these days with terrible rates outside of the high yield market.