Nothing wrong with a cool 12%

The existing rental agreement specifies that the tenant is responsible for all their own utility usage bills (I pay water for the building, as is typical).

That should give you plenty of cash-flow breathing room and let you keep the property and better weather any economic bumps.Then, for home #2, it sounds like it might be a desirable home in a cool part of Raleigh (downtown)?

House will rent for 1200 and the apartment for 650The house needs about 20,000 in work, and the apartment is rent ready besides a new water heater and baseboard heaters.

Here's a list of what's included with this home:New drywall & insulationAsbestos abatementNew copper plumbingNew air conditioning, and FurnaceNew recessed lighting throughout New bathrooms (two bathrooms)New kitchen cabinetsTankless water heaterNew garage door New roofHard-wood flooring ceramic tileNew granite kitchen cabinetsUpdated Fireplace in the living roomNew interior and exterior paintI'm no expert but this seems extremely high.

Electrical needs complete replacement (wiring, electrical box) but the house has newer roof and appliances (heating and water heater are recent), and the plumbing looks recent, which is all surprising given the state of the rest of the house...It's basically a roof and a brick frame with appliances.

I'm going down the path of multi-family buy and hold RE  and might dip my feet into the house flipping  waters.

Many members are experts in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate brokerage, wholesaling, flipping, buy and hold, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.There are some pretty cool discounts on various products and services offered as Perks to BP members that you might want to check out: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proIf you haven’t checked it out already, the Bigger Pockets blog features links to their awesome podcast and many great articles: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/

I’ve found this especially true in water pipe freezing states. 

Many members are experts in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate brokerage, wholesaling, flipping, buy and hold, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.There are some pretty cool discounts on various products and services offered as Perks to BP members that you might want to check out: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proIf you haven’t checked it out already, the Bigger Pockets blog features links to their awesome podcast and many great articles: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/