My issue is that it would take me another couple year to regenerate the capital that will be tied up in any potential property with a not great cash on cash return, and I know a lot of the power of real estate comes from leverage and loan paydown.

I understand it hurts to provide bad tenants money, however it will resolve the problem quicker and remove this frustration from your life, which I'm sure is worth a couple thousand dollars. 

I’m newer as well with properties in a couple midwest markets (Detroit and Memphis).

We require it and have collected a couple of times (tenant caused fire, tenant failed to remove snow and ice and third party had slip and fall).

I know this has been posted quite often, but I'm looking for recommendations for a Contractor that might be able to fit in a couple projects within the next couple of months. 

Here's a youtube video of a meet up the Millenial Real Estate investor group on facebook (which I recommend as a great meet up group) did a couple years ago on one of my projects. 

I would suggest following him on social media along with a couple others that offer a mentorship/course.

We see the party slowing down but see a lot of upside in Class B and Class C product which have not been able to make it out of underwriting for the past couple of years (and really has not been built for several decades, at this point).

So, try to get a couple of years of actual rental income if you can.

Very excited to join this community! Only a few days and I have learned a lot. Looking forward to meet people with my same interests and work together!