I can't do anything myself besides paint, so I hired a contractor because my real estate agent recommended that he could do alot of things and would be cheap.

The cheapest...often turns out not being just that - cheap. 

In my experience like other things you get what you pay for. if you go with the companies that are charging super cheap rates - 5%, $100/month or something like that they don't have enough income to sustain a supportive team to actually help you manage your home. 10% is the going rate it seems in the city and that is where the better companies tend to exist. 

Cheap lvp is worse than carpet, ask me how I know...

I have gotten some estimates and that looks like about $30k total if I just use local contractors, If I do some of the work myself and do it as cheap as possible, I might be able to do it for $20k. 

I usually spend my time, if the seller is present, keeping him/her out of the way if needed, pumping tenants for info, taking measurements for room sizes and drawing floor plans with doors and windows and noting appliances and taking pictures.We look for value add properties that are in decent structural and mechanical condition (except for one deal that we got really cheap).

You can't compete against the all-inclusives unless you offer complimentary food and booze or you're cheap, as you seem to be confirming.This being said:1) Properties in Mexico/Cancun trade in USD so you have no foreign exchange risk in Mexico while properties in Colombia are traded in COP, the Colombian peso, which has been tanking over the years, eliminating any hope for capital gains for American investors.2) You can get a mortgage in Mexico but you can't in Colombia so even with lower revenue, Cancun would likely still be more profitable, even if you don't take capital gains into account.3) The political risk is much higher in Colombia, especially at this present time.Is Cartagena a bad investment?

Slim chances of success, but cheap and easy to get started. 

Could be a cheap way to get a no money down rental :-oWe put in an offer on Blairmore today for $5k over asking.

When buy in some cheap Ohio area for example theres lots of risk with tenant issues but if you buy in a class A area for example north side chicago the deals run effortlessly.