Your job is to serve your client, not to "make" the deal.

@Nick WimmelYou can get decent cash flow and demand for rentals is likely to stay strong in the area given the proximity to major job centers in Cincinnati and Dayton

You're facing a common investor challenge: learning from experience (and sometimes mistakes).

Seems like a common scenario for some of the active military we've helped in the Tucson area recently, feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

What I fear about that set is what happens when Josh wants to get a new job? 

But if your goal is to leave your day job soon, multi family will offer more cash flow typically.

For instance we have seen dozens of sand and stain jobs on hardwood at $2/sf that needed to be completely redone. 

Rents are sky high in certain neighborhoods of Jersey City (we are second to NYC) as such many of the tenants are professionals with high income commuting to their jobs in NYC by ferry, 24 hour path train and bus.

Other risks, the contractor walking off the job, a storm hitting and delaying the project for weeks, someone breaking into the home and stealing stuff (which happened just the other day to a client of mine), a squatter, or drunk driver driving into the house (happened a lot at my old job as a firefighter lol).

One marks up larger jobs, but won't say how much.