On my first rental, I was watering the lawns because they weren't very green.  

We cleaned it and mowed the lawn, and that was about it.

How do I increase rent on the unit to Market Rent without creating artificial turn over?

Think of all the things that could go wrong and see if the lease addresses them: unauthorized pets or tenants, early termination, security deposit, lease violations, late rent, eviction, lawn maintenance, parking, etc.5.

All you could write off is property tax, lawn mowing and ????   

I understand that we all hire people for ofd jobs and short-term projects Handyman, lawn care etc.

With apartments you pay for snow removal, lawn and common space maintenance. 

Things look rosy now but you can't even drive by the property to check on the lawn or see if there's three cars on blocks in the back yard.

Also, prices were somewhat artificially inflated and lenders have become more conservative, effectively moving prices back down to a more authentic level. 

Or are you saying you’re fudging the sales price and artificially increasing it to $700k and borrowing $675k after the downpayment so the seller can then give you the bank’s money?