We plan to remove the carpet next year and install LVF to increase property's value and potentially bump the rent. 

I rent two of those by the room to increase my profits. 

Rents tend to rise over time, amortization steadily increases equity, incomes rise, so the investor has a lot of “cover” for unfortunate timing or operating “mistakes”.Number 2 - periods like 1932 - 1941 and 2008 - 2013 are much harder on this strategy.  

Watch a few youtube videos on increasing your credit score quickly.

These will take some cash to get up and running.Maybe look for properties that are a little higher cap rate AND might have some room for rent increases or ADUs or some other way to boost income.

Do not refinance a primary residence for this because you will be increasing your payments, but not getting anything for it unless the investment you purchase is giving you such a great return that it doesn't make sense not to do it.I have used HELOCs on both my primary and investment properties (when I could get them) as short-term debt.

.- Getting tenants to agree to rent increases and turning in all the required paperwork to caseworker, then, you guessed it, chasing them to process it- Dealing with the tenant's "entitlement attitude" that they don't have to follow the terms of the lease, so they move in other individuals and/or get pets without permission.So, a good PMC will charge something more to manage a S8 tenant/property - either a higher percentage or a one-time or annual fee.

A cost segregation study looks at a property you own to breakdown the various assets you purchased.The goal is to increase the depreciation expense by finding assets that have an asset life less than 27.5(residential) or 39 years(non-residential).Whether you should get a cost segregation study done is whether you will benefit from the study.Will you be able to use the added depreciation now or in the near future?

If you sell or transfer the property - that basis is re-evaluated at the time of the new sale  and would likely increase - making your taxes higher.  

Maybe do a bit of rehab and increase rents, divide by cap and you see how much value you add to your property's "ARV". example4 units - $1000/unitARV $500klight rehab brings $1200/unit$200*4*12 = $9600 / let's say 8 cap = $120k additional property value ARV $500k -> $620kAdd appreciation, gentrification, more depreciation, refi.BTW a LLC is like $300 if you do it yourself or $500-600 if you hire a lawyer. $700-ish out of state.