Determine cost to renovate. 

Finding durable products at reasonable costs. 

How much did the rehab cost and how long did it take to complete?

Happy to chat...being a local GC takes out a lot of the risk of the biggest variable for most investors (unpredictable rehab costs) and also allows you to consider more options than the average investor, with your rehab costs being significantly lower.

I live in California, this is a bay area property.were not looking to move out of state and house hacking is less palatable when a duplex costs 1.6 million.

Make sure your rehab is "renter" cost rehab. etc. 

The challenge with unsafe areas is (1) potentially higher cost of maintenance such as broken windows, etc. and (2) this is by no means meant to be discriminatory but anecdotally from people I've spoken to the challenging tenants tend to be at the lower price points.

You can start to educate yourself on the individual components; how much does it cost to paint on a per sqft basis or what is an average kitchen remodel.  

We almost went with a loan that we have to pay all the cost upfront and then get reimbursed on the back end and that was just not something we were willing to do.

If I were to purchase an Airstream to use as lodging while I travel across the US to my rental properties, make repairs, and perform lease turnovers, would I be able to not only deduct fuel and campground costs but also depreciate the purchase price across 5 years?