-will Contractor bids increase and will take longer to complete remodels due to high demand for labor?

Wealth is the by product of someone who creates value for others and businesses that are long lasting, create incredible value for customers.

Take a little less now, get er rented and increase rates later.     

A Heloc is subject to unpredictable increases by the Fed Reserve anytime.

From a strict buy and hold for passive rental income i think it is a pass strictly based off these numbers:your rental income is 1850Your listed expenses are 888if you finance this for around 148-150K mortgage going to be paying around 800 a monththats 1,688 leaving you with 162/m cash flow without a property manager(assuming you do the work yourself)**Maybe look to move the utilities onto the renters to increase margins **CASH on Cash is about 4.8% to manage this yourself are razor thin numbers. 

Another factor will be the size of the possible rent increases before and after repairs.In our crazy market I would not be surprised if you could raise rent more than $100 a month without repairs.What is the vacancy rate? 

Per Dawn statement : sounds like I need to start working on rent increasing in 2018@Bob E.  

Customer service (can you reach a person, how quickly?)

I imagine it is the coverage many customers require before work, so probably liability, but I don't know.  

Jason.Congrats on the purchase.I think you should ask them to sign a new lease and that you're looking for an increase in the rate.