Two people apply to rent your apartment.

This seems like a potentially profitable strategy given that the factory is supposed to employ 6500 people with good salaries.  

There are a lot of factors out there but savings is a lifestyle and some people are just incapable making sound financial decisions. 

Every so often I have heard people say they have found tax lien/deed lending, but I think that is pretty rare and not widely available.   

I just don't understand how a cash out refinance works and what the benefits would be for it as opposed to simply purchasing the home and renting it out without doing the reno and refinance part of it.

All we can do is to learn from it and let other people know not to get into it.

On the same day people got that email, I got one suggesting I add the 10% discount. 

After she passed it became a rental to a slum land lord and after one of his tenants destroyed the property while having 8 people living inside it's 950 sq ft, he and I had a conversation and I bought it from him as-is for 69,000 and he didn't have deal with the mess they left.

But if you can, then look to see about the cost versus reward of making it more renter friendly.If you just have a half bath, then adding a shower is critical unless you want to let these people use your shower upstairs. 

Might be a bit of a drive but we've met some great people there.