These are all major fixers, not basic cosmetic, but fire damaged, foundation issues, mold, plumbing and lighting fixtures 'recycled', horrid pet and smoking smells,  etc.

One of the neighbors stole the trash can and the recycling bin from the front yard.

If you go to the grocery store to buy a $4 gallon of milk and only have $2, nobody apologizes to you.

I've obviously heard of list source, which everyone uses (but I'm not really interested in recycled lists that others are mailing to already).

If you go this route, you need to milk everything you can in the short-term.

David that is such a broad question.Shopping centers vary by age.Generally everything recycles after so many years.For instance if a shopping center is 40 or 50 years old it is past it's life cycle.Generally at that point you tear it down and build new.If a shopping center is say 20 years old many will just reface the outside to make it look new and repaint and re-stripe the parking lots.This is all predicated on if the shopping center still has a viable location or has growth shifted and now the center is int he old part of town.If it's in the old part of town refacing might not make sense and instead you buy at a lower basis to rent to Big Lots,outlet stores,etc. for less money.Still a tenant that will rent from you but at a lower cost because the area has shifted.With shopping centers it's all about the corner and access from 2 points,red lights,traffic volume and flow,etc.Anchored shopping center versus unanchored,tenant mix with credit rated tenant and frachise concepts versus mom and pop operations.Just like with houses you can run into big repairs with older shopping centers.Don't pay attention to current leases as much going in as what is market rent now and any leases fixing to reset.Also need to know level of shopping center saturation in a 2 mile radius depending and could be tighter or bigger in size depending on rural,subrurban,or urban core,and population count and demographic.Hope it helps.

Fellow college friends rented rooms so we went with the cheapest carpet from recycled Pop bottles & the $37 whole house install but they got us on the stairs.You wouldnt believe the stains that came out by steam cleaning.Still in good shape 4 yrs later.

Meghan.Try also solar energy and recyclable material decorations.

I'm buying my first house this spring, hopefully a duplex so I can house hack, and then save for the next, and do the BRRR, ending with a cash out refi so I can recycle that money to buy the next one.

Option 2 is enticing because of the speed that it could recycle your money, but something to keep in mind is that the deal you'll want to snag, the one that puts you "all in" at 75% of the ARV . . . that's what EVERYONE is looking for.