It was a fixer-up and figured I could manage the process remotely....nope. 10k over budget PLUS the rent AFTER the improvements decreased $5.

If this doesn't include debt service and you plan on using financing, I would make sure to look at carrying costs and see if you could sustain a few months of negative cashflow (assuming you have a plan to quickly decrease operating expenses). 

If its on a decrease you have to do some more market research. 

The cash out refinance brought his DTI down to 38% from 72%, and his monthly debt servicing expenses decreased $750 per month (!!!).

There are VERY few markets that only flatlined while everyone else experienced a decrease in property values.

Does lower competition mean decrease or increase rent ?

Once I’ve done that, I want to focus on making more payments on one of the properties to decrease my risk and then move on and buy some more.

With decreases in inventory and increases in population prices have continued to quickly rise in the city limits.

I did an analysis on this property myself (but very new to the process) and couldn't determine a way for it to cash flow without decreasing the price (I also didn't have a sound understanding of the utility expenses either so that could change things)Do you mind sharing your analysis so that I can learn from what you did/how you made the numbers work?

Mobile homes tend to decrease in value and the insurance only cover so much.