And @John Chin, I want to be a real estate investor because I think I have the mindset, character, and drive required to become one.

I had the same problem, but attributed it to FHA appraisal more than just a lack of appraisers.

For higher end finishing we've been in the $200-$250 per SF range on previous historic restoration projects when keeping the original structure & character of the property.

Most of my comments were simply a waste of characters on the forums.  

Now, make sure you have an attorney on your team who can keep this character in check.

From what we've gathered our tenants seem very similar to the angel and devil on the shoulders of the cartoon characters we used to love watching when we were kids.  

Having a general working knowledge of the area you want to invest in is usually step one.I'm relatively new to investing as well (working on acquiring my 4th unit now) - I'm in the Chicago area and in general I know that returns in the Midwest can be higher than in coastal areas, so you have that going for you; but every neighborhood has it's own oddities and character.

Milwaukee City Assessor's office doesn't seem to offer property attributes for parcels listed as mercantile apartments.The $25K rehab cost is the roughest swag in this entire calculation, in my opinion.

Just because they will be putting tenants in the units does not mean that they will be the sort of good tenant that is desirable; chances are good that since they have no intention of ongoing management of the building, that they aren't going to go through the added effort of screening tenants to be certain they will be tenants with good character.  

The last step in your screening process, should include a phone call or meeting to assess the character of your tenant and whether you feel they will be easy to work with or highly demanding and a pain in the ***.