I had a bath tub where the only thing holding it out of the crawl space was literally  the cast iron drain pipe.  

So, prepare, get your systems ironed out but always keep looking!

I had a lot of irons in the fire I guess...sold my home, moved in w/ fiance, 50+ hour work weeks, remodel/repair apartments myself, fill 4 units that went vacant almost at once. etc.

Congratulations @Adam AndersonHitting the iron while stil red hot...Keep up the good works.

When I manage properties I also write leases on ADRE paperwork which does go through my brokerage so is double-verified as "iron-clad" to keep both you and your tenants very secure. 

Hi Erik, I'm new to BP and ironically live in Northville and looking at STR investments in HHI.

Once I had done that a couple times, I would certainly be in a position where I could easily ascertain if a handyman changing out windows could do a good job at it for $30/hr, at an average of 1 window per hour, for a maximum of $230 per window.Instead of calling my plumber in when the cast iron stack cracks and starts leaking, for a $600 repair and the $200 to have the wall patched, I could do it myself for maybe $100 in materials.I'm sure you can see how the math changes when you're willing to trade your time for money+experience, and then later as an experienced handyman you can hire and effectively supervise/teach unskilled labor to help with these jobs.

I work in a self-employed industry where everyone is freelance and is constantly "unemployed" which is, perhaps ironically, the most secure job I could ever imagine.

Using the same cap rate and expenses, rental income of $2,000/unit would result in a valuation of $14,350,000 and rental income of $1,750/unit would be valued at $12,558,000.You really need to iron out the cost of construction and realistically achievable rents. 

Ironically, or not so ironically, the majority of issues and concerns turned out to be with how the retail tenant was maintaining their space.