Quote from @John Davey: Id appreciate any help, as ex. if i take out say 100k home equity loan and use 50k each as down payments/cloing costs my understanding is i cant deduct the interest?

You are still going to have holding costs and a heloc will just have less holding costs that you would if you were doing a personal line or hard money. 

Going direct saves you and the seller money, giving you a lower cost to entry which helps all your numbers, but you have to put in the extra work to find that deal.

I've been recommending www.repstracker.com to my clients. 

Can try to reposition to Class B, but neighborhood may impede these efforts.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, but 15-20% should be used to also cover tenant nonpayment, eviction costs & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores of 560-620 (approaching 22% probability of default), many blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 2 years.

I refer some clients to them.

I don't have personal experience with it, but when the app was first developed, I contacted the developer and put the app through a fairly robust test usage to see if it's something I would want to recommend to my clients (I'm a CPA).I think the app is great for its intended purpose and I do recommend it to my clients now (and have for about 18 months now). 

A client of mine in Maryland added smart home features to their rentals and boosted rents by 12% with minimal investment.

First, estimate what the renovation would cost, how long it would take, and how much extra you could potentially sell the property for once it’s fixed up.

If your goal is passive income, it's not going to be in New Jersey when you factor in cost to purchase, management costs, and rent to price ratio, but what you can get is steady appreciation.