He would write me a check for half of the difference of his all in cost and appraised value.

I would also put in that if these jobs are the tenant's responsibility, and they don't clear snow from the sidewalk or keep the grass below 6 inches in height, you will take over that responsibility and start billing them monthly. 

Around half of the homes are owned by the tenants.

For SFR homes for PM expect 10% rate and half months rent to fill a vacany. 

I've placed a half dozen house hackers so far, and they are all absolutely killing it. 

I subscribe to the Best Buy Deal of the Day emails, and they do have a lot of half price items, good for only that day.

But I have also regained full time employment a year and a half ago (not something I was actively looking for!

It is a 3 inch clean out that connects to a 6 inch pipe.  

After you’ve done a few deals of that type of strategy you can move on.I think house hacking is a great way to get your feet wet in rental investing, especially if you can find a duplex or so and live in one half and rent out the other half.

It also sounds like you have a good nose for sniffing-out guru BS 💩As you are aware, the real estate industry is full of gurus that oversell and under-deliver on expensive, half-***, 'push-button' software that's used to up-sell you on their 'mentorship programs' for thousands of dollars.