A good contractor likes to work with a 'boss' who knows what they're doing and is close when last minute changes and decisions need to be made. 

Seems crazy but the economics of managing home rentals is so on / off depending on the area (SE forget home rental as a business, except for FL) that it's actually a wise business decision to almost give the older home away to get out of home repair and supposedly turn over.  

But only under certain conditions and only if you factor macro as well as micro into your decision making process.  

Congratulations on your decision to become real estate investors.

I knew that my end goal was a buy and hold with a cash out refinance, but I made did a lot of winging things, making uncertain decision, etc that probably cost me some money, but luckily in the end everything worked out.  

My decision is easy compared to yours.  

The true value is our ability to gather data over long periods of time and with that data to maximize the profit of future decisions. 

Those improvements are probably already factored into the price.Might make sense for owner-occupied considering you would not have another housing payment and or cash purchase which don't sound like a good fit for you at the moment.Nice job of coming to a decision based on good data instead of "ballparking it."

It ain't a go it alone rodeo these days.That investor could very well be making decisions based on some very bad information that will cost them dearly.

I'm definitely still looking into properties on that side of town but I also want to make the right decision.