The above exercise might give you insight on what you can do to improve. 

While we really need to improve our search, I was able to find a couple of members you might try reaching out to and learning from. 

Properties that need renovations or improvements can be acquired at a discount, and the increased value can offset higher borrowing costs.2.

One thing we do, that I recommend everyone does-- is each year-- improve their place!  

You have no ability to make improvements to increase the value (and benefit as the owner); you can't deduct mortgage interest on your taxes as you don't hold the mortgage; and you can't own it while the value rises over time.

Further, while bringing the estate from the brink of bankruptcy to profitability, he invested all cash flow into improving the estate and diverted no funds to increasing his personal wealth.  

Also, I have heard success stories of folks finding good contractors at the home improvement stores early in the AM.

We've been honing in on a pretty good development/investment formula that is working for us where we buy an existing single or multi-family house that can be improved or easily split into smaller units, and then we also add small new construction units to the property (townhomes or duplexes or cottages) and, generally, we rent them all out (though we have sold a couple of single family rehabs and we may sell the units in our next big project...

The key tool to use is to develop a checklist on each location and keep improving on it.

When you have a few good cash flowing properties under your belt then you can push it a bit more but be patient with your first few and look for the deals that work best for you.Rochester is a good area to be starting since there are a lot of properties that are relatively inexpensive that have room for improvement so there will be plenty of opportunities for you, but I'd highly recommend you go to your local REIA (Real Estate Investors Association) and speak with them before jumping into anything.