@Mehul Mehta, @Azam Khan - one observation is that you should not be limiting your focus strictly on single family.Have you thought about getting the economies of scale and investing in multifamily (apartments) via a syndication?

I am more risk adverse so I would not count on long term appreciation with a negative cash flow property especially in DC/NOVA...there is always a ceiling on how high the appreciation can go when you are already starting out with average home costs for a basic house that needs heavy cosmetic rehab funding on top of the over $350K - $450K house in an Ok area of DC/NOVA.I submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request at the County Code Enforcement office and got a list of blighted (Vacant) and other code violation properties.  

Then as you pointed out, in a year or two you can convert the 4-plex into strictly a rental property and move on to the next deal.Rehabbing property is a lot of work.  

Here are the numbers:Purchase Price 89K2x 3/1.5 1220 Square feet eachFully Rented: Gross Rents 1300, 650 eachFully rehabbed Market Value, 97k (But I am suspect of this, can't find anything in research to justify this price)It is in the 46205 zip code "Historic Irvington".Is this a good neighborhood?

ALL Taxes, Code Violations and fines have been paidPurchase price would be about $26k, Seller claims to have $50k into property.

Justin:When Thomas asked about legal non-confirming, I do not believe he was implying your house is not compliant with building and fire codes, but was asking if it conformed to local zoning by-laws.We have student housing as well and it has been our experience that most university towns have occupancy by-laws limiting the number of un-related adults in a single dwelling unit (usually to 3 - 5) which are specifically aimed at student rooming houses.  

Well in a nut shell... he gave me about 6 zip codes to look at.  

The numbers appear good but the kicker is that the quotes were coming in around $125 due to the code issues that would need to be addressed.

these are just cosmetic changes. codes it have a basement?  

I found out that zip code: 90001, 90002, 90003 have pretty strong rental incomes.