I spend roughly $120k on my renovations, but this is for the entire property and developing the secondary suite which certainly costs more (2 new furnaces, all new plumbing, new kitchens and bathrooms with tiled floors and showers).All said and done, I personally love it.

If @Drew Sygit doesn't have a local person for you, I have CFO clients in KC, MO that have used this firm: https://propertyvaluationservices.net/services/protest-taxes...

All 17 or however many sellers want to sell, and we've agreed on terms for seller financing, but the problem is no one cannot get in touch with the last reminding person.

WARNING: if you do not prepare for this, you can enter a death spiral: deteriorating properties lead to lower rents, worse tenants, more wear and tear, even less cash flow to fund repairs and ultimately erode asset value.I do not mean to rain on your parade, hopefully, this is a helpful long term perspective. 

Personally I think both are important.

Get some gift funds to help with the down payment if you can.

@Robert B Azimi If I'm in your shoes I'm meeting with the tenant in person to figure out what's going on.

Go to google and put the name of person / entity you are interested in the search engine, and then add the words "and scam".  

I would have hired a junk haul person to do the clean out instead of my contractor.

I'm trying to raise funds from my family and I am being asked to produce pro-forma scenarios at 2, 5, and 10 years which should include IRR and ROI.