Rents have increased significantly but so have housing prices. 

The market is crazy right now and will be for the next 2 to 3 yearsdue to inflation devaluing the dollar, inflation increasing newbuilding costs.

Can not go wrong with a rental in Ashburn since the rents have increased so much. 

In Portland for example we are not allowed to increase rent more than once in 12 months, and it must be less than 10% increase in "effective rent".

How about the increased home insurance cost for a landlord policy?

While I’m open to both turn-key and fixer-upper properties, my preference leans slightly toward value-add opportunities where I can improve the property and increase equity or cash flow.That said, I’m also happy to consider turn-key options that provide immediate cash flow if they fit within my investment strategy.

I'm not sure by how much your rates are increasing but I have friends in NOLA who have seen a 2x increase per year.

Additionally, the house is 25 years old and could use cosmetic updates to increase rental appeal.

I've heard of people doing this, but you need to be rehabbing it enough to make it higher value so ideally you need to be purchasing something that needs some rehab so that you can increase the equity because otherwise you're not gonna have enough equity to pull out

I just bought a lovely 8 unit last April that had been horribly neglected but have turned it around and done some cosmetic renovations and increased rents.