The spread between $75k and $240k is too good to be true in this market.

Places to go for lending?

I need to deed some property to an LLC.

Usually you need to go to small community banks, credit unions, etc to get these kinds of loans.

I keep hearing how important it is to buy right and with houses going under contract in a few days,  how do you learn how to quickly estimate costs to determine whether it's a good deal?

It may seem trivial for $3-4K/yr, but just consider it as a necessary action to be able to sell one day, otherwise you're likely to be in a serious bind later. 

Pricing your unit above market won't cause your unit to take 3 months to rent vs one month to rent at market rate.

To spend a few bucks randomly is similar to trying to sell homemade soap going against P & G by buying 2 time slots at 3 AM on the local free access channel.   

so raising the rents might be the smart thing to do but it won't increase the value.on the cash thing - no, nothing to do with the renovation. 

For the past decade, my husband and I have run several real estate investor groups here in Milwaukee that allow us to be very attune to what is happening in our local market and I'd be happy to warn you about things to watch out for.