If you need financial help, ask under the "Finance, Tax, and Legal" forum.

When are you planning to do the renovations and rent out the other unit?

I agree - it's a smart way to get into real estate—especially if you want to save on living costs and start building wealth.

If they say put up higher railings, additional smoke detectors, etc, complete it promptly and document it.I've been in the landlord business for 20 years, and I've always kept my properties to code and well maintained. 

If it were more than three years ago and everything else on their application was perfect, then I would consider it.However, I've never seen that in 15 years of management with hundreds of rentals and thousands of applications.

As you do this more often, you'll be able to keep a spreadsheet of per square foot prices for materials and labor to get things done and you'll be able to estimate this yourself.

You building and handling the rental, hanging signs, etc is an orange.

If I understand correctly you'd be purchasing the land, and improving it and splitting it into the appropriate "buildable lots". 

Young investor looking to scale quick and own a lot of properties in the Columbus, OH.

I own and manage mostly class B and B+ single family homes and condos, but I have heard that evictions have ticked up in class C, that’s one of the problems with chasing cash flow is getting into class C and dealing with a tenants that are not as well qualified and higher risk of default to begin with.