I think the only hesitation is that I don't want the dog to be noisy, wreck anything or have dog poop all over my lawn. 

I accidentally offered on a house at $10K, but found out later it was a total wreck.  

15k is hard to go wrong, especially if it's not a train wreck.

Which means if your carpet is older than three years and the tenant wreck it (they will, given time) then you're out of pocket to replace it.

OTOH, if you replace a completely wrecked kitchen with a nice, modern one, your returns can be very high.  

If the property was flipped and it's value is under $400,000.00 I've yet to have not found it to be a train wreck and I've yet to find a homeowner who wasn't now paying out of their pocket over and over again for the flippers short-cuts.

They are the most wrecked by foreclosures and short sales.The other factor is most people that are buying homes to live in are over bidding for the homes with lot space.

I'm looking at a wreck of a park that claimed in their financials to have spent $2k on maintenance last year.

(furnace quit working, tenant wasn't home, pipe broke) The house was a complete wreck and had to be totally gutted.

Just saying, I see a train wreck, might take a few years to stop that train, won't be in months that's for sure. 3 ways to take title without your own money.