I’ve owned a dozen properties for almost 25 years and I’ve spent less than $500 on roofing, and zero on exterior siding/painting.

I can inspect it and pay someone to manage it but I am on a steep learning curve for building it.

As is price point.. this will give you a better long term outcome.if you buy way under median your getting into renter dominated neighborhoods and schools for sure will be bottom ranked.. instead of going East have you considered Vegas.. lowest prop tax's basically in the country. no big weather issues  desert landscape super simple to take care of.. and Stucco homes with tile roofs no big thunder and wind storms to ruin roofs etc etc.. you can buy nice rental house there is a solid B location for about 300k. just worth checking out if you never have..

Hey Kris, Reach out through pm so you can send me all the details through email to see if I can help.Do you know the age of the mechanicals and the roof? 

Simply because there are more units and something like a basic roof replacement can be significantly more expensive as compared to a duplex.

So in the case of buying a duplex for $500k and it needed a roof for $25k, you could still get a $25k credit even though this exceeds the value of closing costs?

Since when did having a roof over your head become an option??

I have big items backing up now like a garage roof tarped I can't afford to reshingle, a back fence falling apart at my own home, leaning trees that need taken out....

The roof is only a couple years old.

The roof is serviceable, but is near the end of life, that is always expected in my underwriting, and the foundation is solid.The key to getting good deals is understanding what the sellers problem is and coming up with a solution for their specific need.