Our property is in a good school district and a decent neighborhood, so I believe we can attract quality tenants otherwise.We've considered the idea of putting of fencing down the middle of the back yard or something similar.

Now you also want to assess the security of your investment.Following my example above, maybe the $200k property is located in a great area which will attract great tenants and support potential appreciation.

I am just taking the slant of how an investor looks at these deals.. as I have been working with investment funds and investor for many decades... so I kind of have a pulse on how the majority thinks about these deals.. and as such again my personal opinion is buy and hold is not that difficult to do by any stretch so the value proposition from the work partner is not that valuable given a mere 10% return on 100% investment into the deal.. just is not in the real world of attracting a capital in any appreciable amount.. 

If there are issues when they go to move they'll have to dig into their own pockets for the difference.From a landlord standpoint, many people are trying different things to market their rentals to attract would-be tenants.

(Although I work in Solon, so it's not as attractive to me as Bedford!)

I ask because I know if a bank has to offers at the same price no inspection contingency would be the more attractive offer so for that reason do a lot of investors exclude it?

There's probably podcasts, blog posts and other articles about how to find deals which are not yet listed.With your work situation, I'd be looking into learning how to attract and engage private lenders.

Both are located in nicer areas of Worcester, and could attract off-campus students or families looking to rent in that area. 

Zillow is a product to attract real estate agents' marketing dollars, not a replacement for up-to-date real estate market information.  

Also keep in mind the intangibles of attracting higher end tenants, increasing your unit value, and having possibly longer residency stays because of the improvements you put in.