You don't need to give her a time frame.

I thought about this through the years.If I up the rent to market, and then pay him for the work, while I get another $100/month in expenses, I receive another $100 in rental income, the two will cancel out, netting you zero.

The tenant just signed a new 1 year lease but has also complained that the driveway needs relaying and that the deck is falling to pieces so guess this is a ploy to start negotiations on selling price.I understand that they pay the rent for a given time, plus extra that we hold as a deposit/down payment so assume I can get that contract drawn up by a real estate attorney who can also work on closing once the agreed upon timeframe ends (is this better than a realtor or should I just go with one and pay the 5%?

Living in Iowa in 2014, I noticed how inexpensive all the houses were compared to where I grew up and that piqued my interest in real estate.

Gabriel Rodriguez before looking out of state there may be some markets in NY that are affordable to buy multiple houses or multi-family that are inexpensive.

Also that improvements have to be made within that 6 month time frame to count them towards the amount or your "bumper" will be too low and you will be subject to the capital gains tax on the difference. 

I viewed the house which is rent ready in the 9am to 10am time frame.

Do it in whatever time frame that works for you and them. 

Renters insurance is fairly inexpensive in most parts of the country costing something in the neighborhood of $10 to $25 per month (some big cities can be expensive).

@Ryan Blake Just google " uber air taxi" or "from drones to autonomous cars and flying taxis, TechCrunch's Tel Aviv 2018 conference had it all" or "Uber just unveiled a prototype of its futuristic air taxi" all interesting articles with time frame for deployment btw 2020 and 2023.