More info:  The town the aprartments are in is smaller. it has about 15K people and the town thrives around the school. so I was thinking that I could do the improvements while it was full and just raise the rents as people move in and out. 

After meeting @BradPenley on BP a couple years ago we started a local REI group to help many others in this market connect & thrive.

since they need to take their listings offline, remove all the old furnishings, renovate, refurnish, new marketing materials, and then relaunch in order to thrive."

utm_source=search&utm_medium=internal&utm_campaign=books (books recommended by BPers)Before making your 1st REI purchase please visit the link below for some useful tipshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/12/19/real-estate-investing-success-smart-tips/Simply, bone up on the areas that you need to expand knowledge in such as, Forums, Marketplace, Learn, Network, Analyze and Resources.Continue to feast on the Podcasts, #askbp Podcasts, blogs and webinars Lastly, this site thrives on interactions and as such we encourage two way exchanges and look forward to educational and thought provoking ideas relevant to REI.

There is a forum for Realtors. http://www.biggerpockets.com/startherehttp://www.biggerpockets.com/meethttps://www.biggerpockets.com/alertsHow to Use @Mentions on BiggerPocketshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/ruleshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/termshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/inviteshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/perkshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/categorieshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/rei/glossary/https://www.biggerpockets.com/webinarLastly, this site thrives on interactions and as such we encourage two way exchanges and look forward to educational and thought provoking ideas relevant to REI.

By the age of 26 you will be a veteran with your own thriving company and have an extremely wonderful life.

The book is called:  "Recession Proof Real Estate Investing, How to Survive (and Thrive!) 

As for the city itself, the economy took the hit from the recession harder than any city in washtenaw county-which is a thriving county.

Sounds like what the developers call "the dead part of town" when we would drive through looking for site locations.When going through a city you can tell renewal areas, from new corridors that are thriving, to old corridors with mom and pop type businesses that are older and more run down.It's okay to have a mix of new and old and I like to see some big corporate tenants around also.

The real estate industry became an interest of mine after reading the book The One Minute Millionaire and me making a decision that I have the drive, professionalism, and sales abilities to thrive in this lucrative trade.