Every Spring, the market heats up in the DC area, and this year it has arrived in February.  

I own a roofing company and I know a great heating and Windows guy.

Taxes on this property if in Montgomery county would be aprox 1100 to 1400 a year, insurance would run 800 year  so you need to make sure there is not lots of deffered maintenance ,new heating system 3000 and new roof 6000, etc. you could eat up your cash flow quickly on these items.

It is just a good time for them to sell and net more with the exchange rate," ".... a lower loonie compared with the U.S. dollar is causing a reverse flow, heating up the sale of Canadian-owned homes in the United States"Read Article

I suggested he at least make an informational call to the police as they have dealt with many situations like this to get their guidance.

It won't be pretty but it will be dry.The square footage of the house without the basement is 1700 sf.We are thinking a mini split for heating and cooling, but we weren't really going to go any further with the space because the comps in the area really don't support a price point too far above where we are going to end up with the current plan.  

If you are using your car for showing houses, it should be clean, neat, reasonably comfortable (that means the AC and heat work, springs don't pop through the seats, etc), and easy to get in and out of.

The insurance is likely to be higher than you think too because the insurer will value the building based on the replacement cost which is higher than the purchase price, so you will be paying a premium for that too.Many of the tenants in these areas also don't take as good care of their property as you might find in other parts, so you will likely find yourself repairing the units and building more than elsewhere.We also often see many tenants in these types of areas that don't pay for heat often have the heat blasting in the winter time and their windows open.

Do you know if there are any sites that show a heat map of property classes?  

Rent prices are still holding up pretty well (above 1%) but no one is buying, and i agree, i think it is 2-5 years out until things heat up again (based on multiple discussions with many locals in oil- but still a wild guess).