They can't assess all the subjective data like overall layout, view from the living room window, the dogs next door that bark all day, the width of doorways, size of individual rooms, quality of kitchen cabinets and appliances, etc.The best thing to do is study your market regularly.

He believes that area where he will be buying the new homes is going to appreciate and attract more MTRenters, but now, the big difference is that he would now have 3 properties that can go up (or potentially down) in value, go up (or down) in rent, and three times as many vacancies to fill.My back of the napkin assessment is that for only a drop in $200 a month in cash flow, he would control a lot more assets with growth potential and as rents rise over the coming years, the combined rents will increase to a total more than the single rent.HOWEVER.

As firefighters persist in battling the blazes, many residents are left assessing their financial and emotional losses.

I would see how the home inspection goes (get someone good) and make a assessment than on how you want to proceed.

Is there a more accurate way of assessing this? 

Still assessing if it was the property itself or the property class.

Towns in New Jersey can be wildly crooked and will try to assess you for things they missed on prior renovations before you even bought the property, which technically they can do.

We bought our first rental property, a duplex in Portsmouth, VA, in what we assessed was a C neighborhood in March 2023.

Hard money is expensive.Some questions to ask yourself to assess risk:Do you have access to a reliable contractor who can complete the work on time and stick within a budget?

Also what does the city say is the assessed value of the property on your taxes (it will be different than the appraised value, but should give you an idea).