Whenever you are using leverage, you need to have ample slack in the system and sufficient cash reserves (or access to cheap & instant cash) to cover vacancies, capital expenses, unplanned maintenance, and other issues to avoid missing your note payments. 

Fitchburg Listing Inventory has remained flat for the first quarter of the year, below the previous year with Sales matching near half the previous year over the last 2 months. Market Supply remains relatively flat ma...

@Allen Wu- .25% rate difference wouldnt be  ample for mw to choose to use a 10 yr arm  versus a 30 yr fixed ....especially  if the proeprty will be a long term hold .....once rates  drop you can  always  look at rtefinnancing options ....make sure to  review all the rate / fee options ....the  more you are willing to pay in loan fee ( points) the  lower the rate you can get will be 

We're finishing a basement & also considering updating electrical / plumbing. 

As long as you keep up with updates over time, you shouldn't fall behind the market in rents or value.

The inspection will highlight everything that’s wrong with the property, and it’s vital to fix these issues first before tackling cosmetic updates.4.

If we buy in Shasta we will buy something for 200k-300k that needs some minor updating and do the updates right away before renting it out.

Tenant has been there for over 20 years so the unit has a ton of updating that it needs so that the unit is brought back to life. 

Najeh,You will want to focus on investing in areas where basic improvements such as curb appeal and internal updates (ie kitchen/bathrooms) would support higher property values that you could refinance or sell to make your money back. 

You should have  a lot of options if it's a building that's been updated etc.Farmers itself does some weird things with their deductibles and they're very specific what they want right now.Let me know if I can help.