Even homes built in the 80's have had violations.

Had my father not insisted on having his tenants pay their own gas bill, he would have been creamed.

Skip tile and w/ cheaper flooring... you probably could shave 5k off that budget and save the bigger remodel for when you put it on market.

You're probably not going to end up with any cashflow, but if all the bills can be paid and you can live in one unit for under $500/month, you've likely shaved at least $1,000 off your monthly payment by renting out the other units, and can use that $1,000 in savings every month to save for the next property or make improvements to the current property and increase it's value and get more rents.The real problem with this projection is that no one has a real estate crystal ball, and far too much can happen with the economy and politics in the next 2-3 years to be able to accurately tell you what the experience will be like in Phoenix.A real easy way to experiment with this would be to look up 2-4 unit multifamily properties on Realtor.com or MLS, see what the units are renting for, deduct one of the unit's rents for you to live in, and then use a simple loan calculator to see what your monthly PITI would be vs. the gross rents.

I guess it really is just for shaving legs....

I've been debt free since my late 20's, have some money invested in IRAs, mutual funds, and stocks, but only passively considered real estate as something that would only come about after purchasing a house to live in.

But, reading the book is a bit like licking the ice cream cone.

All different flavors of ice cream out there.I have seen some buy to hold and said they would never sell but they had a compelling reason like an offer that came in (knocked their socks off) it was so good or they wanted to recapitalize for more existing property acquisitions or new development projects.If you study business it is mainly about PERCEPTION and MARKETING.

It takes time and consistency, I just pray you haven't been sold this idea that it is all peaches and cream and you will be financially free in 6 months after wholesaling.

You can try and cut the middle man out on a sub2 pre-foreclosure, but it's as tricky as trying to eat an ice cream cone in the pits of hell.