totally hear you, pre 2021 in knoxville was a totally different ball game. again depending on your goals and strategies, your expectations aren't unrealistic. some deals may require more of an investment to make the numbers work like one of my student rentals that was a full gut project and took nearly a year to complete yet it spits out 15% cash on cash returns annually and i purchased that late 2022. investing in general is a risky endeavor, it's all relative to ones own risk tolerance depending on their position. we try and make calculated risks and look to evaluate multiple exits before pulling the trigger, yet there is still some risk involved. maybe a reit or syndication is the way to go if you want to be in real estate yet don't want to take on the properties yourself. either way i'm happy to make some local connections. 

Unless it’s water front or something special.I know where there’s a 1300 sq ft single family 3 bed, 1.5 bath for $25k right now, it’s trashed and half gutted.

My gut tells me to build and scale this thing ASAP!

I'm putting aside 8% for vacancies and 10% for repairs and that's not enough to cover repairs/turnivers in a completely gut-renovated house in an area with great employment all year round !... 

I don't do full gut renovations so I haven't had to pull permits on things like electrical and plumbing, but I do new construction projects where you have no choice but to pull permits.

I'm currently working with a realtor to purchase a property that is completely distressed and will need significant rennovations inside (almost an entire gut; but not quite).

The emails are very short and unprofessional, I am going to steer away (but this is just a gut feeling, opinion, I have not worked with them).

One was a total gut.

It's important to have good advice so you can recognize a hiccup vs a gut punch!

IF I'm going to make extra principal payments to pay off a "low(er)" interest rate mortgage early (compared to today's rates), my gut reaction would be to pay off the highest interest rate mortgage first.