I have about $200K saved up and planning to buy a condo(about $850K) and later as I get married in a year or two, upgrade to single family house and have my condo rented out. 

From looking at comps in the area that was sent to me...all properties have been selling in the low 100,00 which is what they bought it for...they have made minimal upgrades and I would still need to do a lot of cosmetic work to make it worthwhile...so Im not sure why there is such an increase and its supposedly went into contract twice and the deal fell through both times!

He never saw the house, never inspected it, never rehabbed it, just bought it as-is and continued taking payments from the previous tenet.About 1 year ago (August 2018), my wife and I moved in and started rented from the landlord.While it has been nice renting this place, and the landlord has made things really easy for us, the truth is that the house is severely out-dated esthetically and could definitely use some upgrades functionally.For example, the kitchen is filled with ugly yellow-brown cabinets, tile countertops. 

The fridge wasn't that old but had to be replaced because it was so gross and broken inside.

Remodeled the kitchen and bathrooms, new coat of paint throughout the interior and completely upgraded the flooring to tiles throughout the house.

And the pipe  looks broken off, jagged  vs a cut pattern .   

Choose fixtures, finishes and appliances that can be upgraded later when the finances are stable.   

Fortunately, electrical, furnaces, and water heaters had been upgraded.

Many leases have a "lease break" provision that states under what conditions the lease can be broken (paying two months rent as a penalty or...).

Put new knobs on the kitchen cabinets, and replaced some broken soffit pieces and window sills that had rotted out.