Don't know how much renovations will really cost, again, either PM or GC conversations.  

However, our tenant turned out to be problematic—late payments, issues that led to an eviction, and additional repair costs before we could relist the property for sale.Now, after months of making mortgage payments out of pocket, we finally have an offer.

I went to sign up this morning, and it costs an additional $100. 

Let's say at 6% over 30Yrs will be about $960 per month(Principle/Interest) with the remaining  interest only portion $40K costing roughly $200 per month. $1500- $960 + $200 IS $340Cash in your pocket after everything roughly $1500-$1160-$340 which is not bad for a 100% financed deal(INFINITE RETURNS)Now, If you ran this analysis on a 1% deal as @Nicholas L. mentioned you will undoubtably end up in the red each month.All the best!!!

Refinancing has more nuances than it seems, and so do closing costs.

Those situations go bad more often than not, costing you money and the friendship.

While living in a high-cost area can present challenges, it also opens doors to creative strategies, like investing out of state or leveraging partnerships.

It costs money to own and operate real estate which is why you need a primary source of income. 

In my business for example we texted about 35k people last month and got 163 leads and about 3 contracts out of that.What does that work out to "cost per contract"?

@Dhruv Patel I believe you are getting ahead of yourself....Where in the US are you all-in (land acquisition, soft costs, hard construction) on new construction multi-family for $100/ft.