Cut your negotiation teeth on this, it's all a great learning experience and all it costs you is a nice lunch.

I know direct mail is a particular strategy, but I guess what I'm asking is what should I first attempt to sink my teeth into?

You could pull your own teeth with pliers, but wouldn't you rather use a dentist?

Also, I've started painting all of our units a very, very pale yellow/linen color (the wife picked it out and everyone that sees it loves it) and the trim all gets hi-gloss white enamel.

That way, you have some teeth in your agreement and allows you to execute later on after you have made the repairs but keep the current financing in place. 

., The world of large commercial scares people who have cut their teeth on residential. 

We used cabinet enamel to paint the cabinets with a combination of small roller and brush, and sealed it with a poly. 

Rather than wait any longer, I've decided to use my retirement savings to cut my teeth. 

When these problem tenants moved out (trashed the place), I had to pull teeth to have them put max # of people in the lease, that everyone in the house had to be listed on the lease, etc. etc.

I like MF and commercial retail, and own some in NZ.We cant scale it up in NZ, as there are not many to buy which are more then 4 units, we don't have buildings of 10 units under one title, these are all independently owned. purpose-built multi units buildings with 10+ units are rare as hen's teeth. and the Auckland market which is where im investing has median house price of 850k. so 4ples cost over 1.5mil and the yields are very low. like California and NY etc.