We went balance sheet neutral about 7 years in. 

We determined that the contractor the flipper used did a fairly bad job, but if the electrical and HVAC (done by different contractors) are ok, it would likely require a few thousand to fix some deferred maintenance and poor workmanship before being a decent, fairly modern and neutral rental townhome in an appreciating B/B- area. 

Keep finishes neutral and choose mid-grade to appeal to more buyers.Best of luck!

As for getting 10% positive cash flow in the bay area in the current market, you'll be lucky to get a cash neutral deal.

Do you have any concerns about declining population trends or other negative or neutral economic indicators (regional net job creation)?

It should be in more neutral colors. 

If the HML normally wants $75k down for the scenario, great the borrower is going to put that in a 3rd party escrow account somewhere managed by a neutral lawyer, and the HML is going to lend $75k more than they normally would if not for the security of that 3rd party account.If you post a deal scenario, with purchase price, reno budget, ARV, etc, and get a hard money lender to tell you what they would want to do the loan, I can write up a way that will in theory allow you to do the refinance the second the reno work is done, with no additional exposure to risk for the HML.

The counties and cities are coming out in force and jacking up taxes like crazy trying to bring more revenue into their coffers as they went neutral to negative so long on budgets with the recession. 

My property is cash flow neutral, the tax benefit, and loan paydown is benefiting me more than cash actually.

The sub-fed panel has been placed in the stairwell which is in direct violation of the code.The neutral and ground wires are attached to the same buss which is a safety hazard, and needs to be remedied.Nearly all of the lighting and receptacle circuits show evidence of rewiring but the ground wires do not show conductivity to ground.This is evidence of poor electrical installation and possibly using old knob-and-tube wiring to feed these circuits which were found in the basement.Also, there are broken boxes and unsafe wiring practices evident throughout the inspection which led one to believe that the work was performed by an unqualified individual.The cheated wires must be found or the entire ungrounded circuits may need to be rewired.Pricing to move the sub-fed panel, properly install bonding and grounding, and correct the ungrounded circuits $3500-$6000Rear apt No entry was gained.The Electrical portion of the Home Inspection report shows ungrounded receptacles and possibly more.Considering the evidence in the rest of the building, it is possible that the circuits are also poorly installed by amateurs.