Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core.

My wife's last day at work is this Friday the 13th (fitting), so our newly formed LLC will have its captain and we will be accelerating our research and outreach to find some deals.

Last year, there were alot of ground-breaking ceremonies (1: mix use development, 2- hardrock cafe with lofts, and 3- a park) happening in the neighborhood and that's when we saw our prop values jump almost 50%. and about 30% spike from last year.

In what situations do lease options have a good fit?

the cons of this building is that it has tenants that are smoky and stayed there for long time, some of them are paying through government assistance which I really don't know if this would be a bad idea or what, the unit that might fit our growing family as we are now three and expecting a baby soon!

Although it's Class C, it's in a wonderful neighborhood (I actually lived there about 10 years ago) only a few blocks from some of the more popular bars and restaurants in Norfolk. 

I have been actively looking on the usual suspects of websites (loopnet, redfin, zilllow) but feel like I still have a lot to learn about particular neighborhoods in the SoCal area.

I'm thinking the smallest home in the nicest neighborhood.

What is average cost to renovate a 2 bedroom apartment from to to bottom in a C class neighborhood ?

I started looking for value ad opportunities and changed from duplexes to single family for a more hands off management, which is what I needed to scale up while still working for a global company.The following years the rehabs got more involved and the properties got more expensive, because I started to realize that only a certain quality of neighborhood would allow me to do a full blown gut rehab and not lose equity in the process.