If you can make it cash flow, give them 12% for 5 years, just don't pay too much or they will end up owning it again.I don't think there is an app for what you're asking, you may need to use some shoe leather as horrible as that may sound, it works.You can sure look for distressed properties and sales.....but another issue, if you don't have the money to buy, do you have the ability to repair, improve a complex, change it's reputation in the area, draw new tenants and make some trash pile profitable?

I threw you numbers into my modelling tool with the following changes:I used the ask price: 180Kmaintenance - 10%vacancy allowance - 10%Insurance - 1K/yr {rather be too high than too low}lawncare/snow removal - $75/mth,  $900/yrHydro (House) - $100/mth, $1200/yrWater/sewer - $85/mth, 1020/yrGarbage - $85/mth, 1020/yrMortgage: an LTV of 75 and 6.0% interest rate with a 30yr amortization.an opportunity cost of capital at 8% a 15 year hold period.Did not count laundry revenueThis brings your OE to ~1025/mth,  ~12,300/yr  ... an operating ratio of ~43% ... which strikes me as low, but wonderful if true.Just to be pessimistic, I added in another 2000/year of misc expenses to bring your operating ration to 50%With all of the above in the mix, I get a debt coverage of ~1.4 and a CoC of 10.5%  Which is passible.If you could purchase for 165 to 175K and the real expenses are closer to $12-13K/year, then this is will be a good investment with the following caveats:- I did not budget for upfront capital improvements that you would need to do at purchase;- Since I know neither the market nor the property, I modelled with no property value appreciation and no rent improvement.

If you go with this strong cash flower AND you have a long term outlook, THEN consider improving the odds of the neighborhood improving over time by becoming an advocate for the area surround your investment.

Could he have spent that much, yeah, but it sounds like he over-improved the property and may have a hard time selling a home for $250,000+ in a neighborhood where a house can be purchased for $40K to $90K

I agree that you should hold off on improvements until you have owned the property for a while.

We would like to improve our deal flow so that we can consistently close 2 deals per month.

I have a Chase Ink card that gives me 3% cash back at home improvement stores (plus gas stations, restaurants, and office supply stores).....unfortunately I was just looking at their site and the new Ink cards have different categories than mine.

In 30 days they were able to improve their score to 600 and get a better rate on their loan.

I literally had less than $1k maintenance/improvements in 4 years.

Constant improvement is the name of the game with conversions.