We both have good jobs and we're almost living on one income.

@Trung Le  We used the company which had done work in the house in the past because they had warranty for the job they did even though they are expensive.

(I would also pay for the monthly rent via my savings/day job – in speaking with the owner, he said it would be a minimal amount because the property needs work).I don't know exact numbers on what the rehab will be, but I've been doing some research on the costs and am working from an average at the moment, as I look up what basic rehabs for kitchens, bathrooms, electrical, plumbing, new roof, etc. could be.

Matt Avila I would recommend keeping the day job.

Update material costs based on what you saw at Lowes and Home Depot...but check this against homewyse as wellStart making nice with a contractor and ask to see their existing job sites.Use J Scotts method of going to Home Depot or Lowes early in the morning and see who is checking out at the contractors desk if you need a place to startWhen starting don't try to estimate by only looking at an MLS listingIf you're new the odds of you finding a deal on the MLS are rare.

Great job guys. 

Alabama, in general, is producing jobs at amazing rates, so you’ve picked a solid canvas, IMO.

If you do buy the worst property in the best neighborhood, you don't want it to remain the worst property in the neighborhood - there's a point at which you want to do a better job of attracting customers than your competitors, and that's going to be difficult to do if your place is a dump relative to the rest of the neighborhood. 

@Natalie Kolodij did a good job for me and was reasonable pricing wise. 

@Wilson Bunton While I am not a licensed engineer or architect, I do a fair amount of work in AutoCAD and Revit to create sketches and construction mark-ups in my day job.