[Contact info removed by moderators] - more of an inspiration page and has lots of pics of our renovations too. :)

As an investor and agent with a moderate amount of experience projecting ARV and analyzing deals, I find that many of my clients and potential investors simply do not have the time to spend walking properties in person and that do so is a part of making an offer that is reflective of accurate expenses and also a realistic ARV. 

She's moderately risk tolerantWhat do you advise her to do?

I definitely feel you can get those numbers more inline with what I am seeing right now ($200 ft all in) if you are doing stick built moderate to high end level finishes. 

We had places with unbelievable rise and falls, and other place where things were moderate.

Bear in mind that at this time of year, a moderate-to-large rehab will put us on the market during the holidays, which isn't the best idea. 

I was moderately impressed with the Rehab estimator tools demonstrated by FB, but felt like I could come up with something on my own.  

She said that she would be able to approve me for 5% down on a two-family, or 10% on a three-family, owner occupied, but the property needs to be in a low to moderate census tract.

I'm slowly working my wife into the realm of cashing out refinance to buy an investment property but the big hangup I'm running into is the time it will take to manage tenents.I understand some can be a pain in the but but moderate to good ones shouldn't take up much time.

Any money saved is quickly lost due to doing a bunch of things only marginally well or poorly, and in this game it only takes one moderate size mistake to eat up the profits of years.