Dave, thank you for all the details as I have truly no clue what this business entails.  

The numbers would have to work, of course, above all else.If it is a crappy location and still cash flows, then great, but be prepared for being in a crappy location and all that entails.

We were able to successfully lower taxes on our first property - check with the town to see what the appeals process entails.

The cost is tax deductible and not a bank breaker considering all that is entailed and what I'd spend on attorney fees.

If it's too over your head then maybe you pass on the 10 days of depreciation and don't hire a CPA and either file nothing for it (other than HUD write-offs which I'm not sure exactly what's entailed as my CPA handles that.

Obviously this would entail removing the drywall or paneling on the ceiling, but if your paneling work is $1500, your fasteners and labor $500 and some extra support and labor $500, you might be looking at a feasible short to mid-range fix.

Also, when you say learn the neighborhoods, what does that entail and how would you advise going about doing that?

The issue entails in that the apartments need work IMO.

Plenty of people (agents included) can come up with pie-in-the-sky ideas of how to change and improve a house, but few have a real understanding of what that work entails, what challenges will need to be overcome, and how long it will all take and what it will all cost. ...how did this agent know all this info?

Door to door prospecting is the most difficult type of sales prospecting because it’s (1) time consuming, (2) labor intensive and (3) entails a high number of face to face rejection.