Hi guys, I am looking at a condo that could use some updating in the kitchen, bathroom, and flooring. 

I also want to knock down the wall dividing the living room and kitchen, and then the dining room into the kitchen to open the place up.

Upon the tenant leaving, they discovered the slow leak he had "Fixed" was rerouted between the wall and the cabinet and it rotted all the subfloor in the kitchen, about $6,000 to fix. 

Waterbury seems to have a decent number of somewhat distressed 3-4plexes selling for under 20k, which would require maybe 20-30k worth of rehab and redecoration to get in rental shape (certainly not to get them beautiful).

We are planning on the following materials:floors - use tile and commercial vinyl (plank or sheet);walls - velvet kitchen & bath paint (cleans easier) with either a tile base or wall base in lieu of baseboards;HVAC - extra filters on all ventilation ducts - I've cleaned cat out of a ventilator before ... not fun.On units where we have allowed pets in the past, we have required the tenant to carry a pet damage rider on their tenants insurance with us as the named payee.  

Today we did the foundation inspection and found the kitchen and laundry "heaving", the foundation tech. thinks this is most probably due to a leak in the sewer pipes, and he strongly recommends to do a plumbing test prior to move forward with the deal.

Nobody then has to do it alone.Usually properties around 10K are stripped of anything valuable: plumbing, wiring (walls torn open for that), heating system, water heater, kitchen cabinets.In those neighborhoods you'll want to have a wireless alarm system, or they will tear out overnight anything that you've put in during the day.

I'm looking around the place trying to assess what it would need and remembered meeting a guy in the same complex who did a complete reno and said he put about $15k into it, (complete kitchen gut job, tile, carpet, bath cabinets, paint, moldings...the works) So I factor this into the equation.

Brandon biggest bangs for your buck are things like painting, a nice neat kitchen, curing odors, a nice neat bathroom, fresh hardwood floors.

I may be a bit conservative on the repair costs, however this particular property needs some mold remediation (basement), kitchen and bath updates and standard paint/carpet.