Also your perspective are you an agent, pm or investor.For example in Cleveland the east side has tons of A communities by income standards but the turn times of how long a property sits on the market is atrocious.

Rents increases are not standardized and should be kept within the realm of market rents.

@Zach Howard some copy & paste advice below:)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

If you can't perform to the new standard were setting, I strongly suggest stepping back and hiring one of us who are setting this new standard. 

This means that if you pay off the loan too early, then you'll pay a 1-5% fee off the loan amount. paying off the loan early means you either refinance or you sell the property, both would trigger a prepayment penalty to the lender. that being said, you can choose your prepay options, 5yr usually giving you a better interest rate by like a 0.25%, 3yr being most common and standard, and a 0,1,2 yr where you can buy down the prepay to be less years. meaning you pay 1% upfront of the loan amount to get a 1yr prepayment penalty so you're free to sell the property or refi after 1yr. 

After that make sure you have your property up to standard before placing a tenant.

@Hiyun Park only experienced investors can DIY everything in Class C Midwest areas like Detroit, Cleveland, St Louis, etc.Hopefully the info below will help you:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

There's a few different ways to focus on a lower rate such as with house hacking and making the investment your primary residence, requesting a significant closing credit from the sellers for standard rate buy-downs (which I've had great success with recently), or utilizing lenders who offer short term rate lowering solutions such as 2-1 rate buy downs (again, ideally paid for by the sellers).

Above that, though, I would focus on standardizing your renovation, i.e., same tile, paint, flooring, etc.

If the separation of funds was for asset protection (in this case there was another reason), it is my belief that an umbrella policy is easier than trying to maintain separation of assets especially when the property has been purchased with individual’s money and financing.