Good point on the temp Bryan, glad to have a contractor in on the discussion.As far as the boiler condition, it's in the basement which gets fairly humid, inspector just made mention that some of the control panel, circuitry, components, etc look rusted and should be serviced as a precaution.

Courtnay, I agree with Mitch that it is easier to approach investing and all of its components by essentially outsourcing the needed activities until you can do them as well or less expensively. 

The on site manager and asset manager are two different components of property management.

The water isn't necessarily detrimental to the deal, but it is worth looking in to.

I also started to realize that there was no equity component to my strategy.

Every time you pay your mortgage, that new balance is reported.However your score can change even with information staying the same as a component of your score is the average age of your accounts.

Financing is just one component of underwriting a deal.

But the best way to get this as high as possible is to at least update something in all the major components of the house

Then look for something that you can buy for lower than the market but rent at or above the market.Also find out what a typical rehab would cost you and break it down by major components (flooring, roof, plumbing, painting, etc). 

They are easily the most critical component of the equation.