I advertise via Sabbatical Homes and Harvard Off-Campus Housing and insist my leases begin on Sep 1, Jan 1 or Jun 1 and end on Dec 31, May 31 or Aug 31. 

And you are wondering if you should spend lets say $125,000 on a house you have never seen ? 

I have 2 options:- finance the construction pre-selling the apt, and take my profits (expected to be around 700K pre-tax); or- finance the construction with a 6-7%/year loan (collateral = my house), keep the 10 units, and once the building is completed in 24 months, rent them for circa 180K/ year gross.

i am heartened by the posts, though, from new investors house hacking.

I have 9 partners on the mountain house at $117,500 each, and 10 partners on the beach house at $110,000 each, and I am currently looking for a few more partners on my jungle house near La Fortuna at $110,000 where there will be a total of 7 partners. 

I'd love to hear others' opinions on this but I am a fan of making the house as attractive as you can to a potential buyer, even if that adds cost. 

My first house had a tenant in it when I bought the house and they just up and left and left the house in rough shape.

If the owner of neighboring house says its mine I would replace and ensure it is inside my property line.

I'd recommend looking for a house versus a condo.

Yeap, exactly same as Zillow's Zestimate increased the price of houses.