As for Baltimore,  it does get a bad rap, it's not much like the way it's portrayed,  but our location is a gateway to the Chesapeake Bay, and I'm really thinking of targeting my local and regional market as a venue for weddings,  corporate retreats,  and family functions.As for becoming profitable,  that's the question,  but even if it's a buy and hold, I'd rather just make one lump sum payment after tax season than rustle up a few thousand dollars every month.

I did have to lower the rent significantly on one unit when it came vacant last fall in order to fill it.We're past the prime summer rental season, so even if you closed quickly on the duplex, it would be harder to get a tenant at this time of year, and you might have to offer a lower price to do so.I also think that your figures of 5% for vacancy and 10% for maintenance are low.  

I'm interested in what the seasoned pros think?

Hello Nick,There are a million reasons but the best reason I can think of as a seasoned investor is to recycle down payment funds to reinvest into the next project.

It seems like that would be a pretty good rental market with the older houses and the chemical plant right there.

I’m a new investor in Nashville, looking to bird dog for seasoned investors and wholesale buyers.

We have some older neighborhoods that we leave the stains in some of the floors and seal over them.

How do you more seasoned investors go about getting comparable sales data for a potential off market deal? 

To those Multi unit investors, how long has it been taking you to turn over your investments to start turning profits so you can refinance and cash out?  I know every case is different from remodeling and getting rid ...

(both rentals and sales) A big competitor for that area will be the apartment rental buildings which offer very nice (some new) amenities and other incentives for tenants, that some of these older buildings n the loop have a hard time competing with.