I got all the mechanicals inspected and passed.

Mom makes ice cream from scratch, dad is a mechanic, and they find older cargo/transit vans for a couple thousand dollars, spend $10k to convert them and equip them, and then hire drivers (for 25% of revenue) to go sell the ice cream (high quality version).

I live in Syracuse NY and I'm a mechanical engineer.My goals in real estate are obviously to make money.  

I do very aggressive rehabs for my flips and costs can vary dramatically based on scope so the more you can get fixed on items you can control- flooring tile cabinets paint etc and then bulk other costs mechanicals structural elements etc the more in range you will become with your overall budget.

I was a student at two boot camps (I willnot mention names,my respect to them; is their niche; and it could help someone to seek for more ) and I spend a tremendous amount of dollars.I could deal with mechanical or structural problems that was my not wreakness.

I would pay extra attention to any deferred maintenance items (roof, mechanical, electrical, etc.) hire an awesome inspector that will crawl the space up/down/sideways for you. definitely check the leases and try to get both sides vacant (especially the one with trash all over their yard).  

Had all new mechanicals within 2 years of purchase, interiors were renovated, and op expenses were at an extremely low number.

And since most people have less than 100k in their IRA it made sense that they needed some financing.. so these companies built their own financing mechanism  its quite common in the industry actually.

Here in Illinois in Chicago it is quite difficult to recover money and the state makes it easy for contractors to put in place a mechanic lien.

Mechanicals appear to be intact and functional.