Essentially, there are three options:Invest in the Bay Area: High prices, low returns.

Account ClosedI did a few years as a Lowes sub.

., upload them to CL, put a ridiculously low price, and watch the phone ring.

This means I likely won't be buying a killer deal, but I will still be paying a low-ish mortgage.

$25 per month per unit for water and sewage seems low.

For example in washington DC the properties are mostly equity plays where cash flow is very low, but you go 45 minutes outside of DC and you are in it for cash flow.

@Evan Ventura,People here on BP have also successfully used the cheap IKEA countertops (around $75-99 for a piece). at that price they where treated as expendables (one per tenant), and some even reported getting the install time with demo at 2-4 hours.for the other, you need to "waterproof" the common points of water entry:-caulk between the wall and countertop-use varnish on points contacting sink-use good glue near the oven/range since the usual pressure-activated glue does not fare well with heat

I need to put in new flooring, heating system, bathrooms, kitchen, replaster walls etc.

The furnace is in a hallway closet upstairs and my property manager said usually the vents closest to the furnace will get the most air.I just acquired another house also built in the early 80's and same thing, upstairs gets all the heat while downstairs is a bit cooler.  

So I'll put two appraisals in front of our appraisal department head honcho dude, a normal one and a low quality one, and let him decide which is more credible (obviously this also doesn't work if the first appraisal was credible, done well, and the value just isn't there) and which opinion of value we will use.