He only wants to answer you if you pay him & his stuff is very expensive. 

If so, adding amenities that your ideal guest will find valuable = they'll pay more for it.

regarding roofs  pray for hail storms and then replace .. in those type assets that are really priced for cash flow.. values will rise only when rents rise.. as non of them will ever go owner occ.. at least that is generally what happens with this type of housing.. the value play is the tenant pays off your home and your home generates enough cash flow to break even at best and feed it a little bit over time.. then at the end of your mortgage term 30 years you now have say 2 mil of paid for assets the real money is made on these assets cash flow wise ONLY if you pay cash IMHO

Do you want to be passive (ie give your $ to someone and they pay you interest, or you put the money for the opp and get equity, etc)3.

If it has any basis at all (such as you left the apartment during your lease term for what you felt was a justifiable reason and stopped paying rent, but the landlord disagreed) then you may be better off paying a rather small settlement.  

Or they have it figured out and are going to cure via paying or modification etc etc. 

Taking the loss now is preferable to paying out monthly for the privilege of being a landlord.

I know that is a long pay back period but don't plan on selling anytime soon, plus you never know what nat gas prices will do. 

They still have to pay the ServiceTech to drive there and back and go get any needed materials.LABOR COSTSNow that you have a decent idea of the time required, you need to try figure out what a ServiceTech should cost per hour.

No but keep track of those repairs as it will add to your cost basis when you go to sell it and have to pay capital gains.