(DO Ask for receipts if it's for material deposits.)Share competing bid information and "bid shop".Encourage bidders to get into a bidding war.Try to low-ball contractors.....they will try to cut corners or make it up with change orders a lot of times.And finally, DON'T assume that "All Contractors are Crooks" or that "All Contractors Will Rip You Off".  

You know, old paint, busted up cars in the driveway, etc.

I found my current guy by wandering into a small locally owned paint shop and saying, "do you know anyone who can build a deck handrail?"

I had to prime and paint all walls, put tile in both bathrooms (we created a second one).

And, you don't yet know what terms to go after - you don't yet know what keywords convert well for you in your area.Start with AdWords before venturing into SEO, paint your targets, use PPC as a control to test landing pages, messaging, and conversion rates.

Painted front porch and front door to add more curb appeal. 

The roof is 9 years old, windows are all new, and the small cosmetic fixes I was referring to was mainly just painting and refinishing the floors in 1 unit.  

Re tile the bathroom showers, paint kitchen /bathroom cabinets, new countertops, and painting of house interior.    

For older buildings, look out for potential lead paint / asbestos remediation costs. 

We put about $2500 and some sweat equity into the property before renting it out (some flooring, new dishwasher, new water heater, painting, etc).income: $1295expenses: $108 vacancy (guess), $283 HOA fee, $161 property tax, $14 insurance, $130 repairs / updates (guess), $480 mortgagecashflow = $119And that doesn't take management into account, which so far we'll try to do ourselves (from NH -- I know that's iffy, but we did find a high quality tenant so we're hoping that not too much will happen).