Tenants use about 30% more water and do not generally report leaks.Take 60% of gross rents for a D area with higher evictions and make readies and collection efforts with increased bookkeeping.75,600 X .40 ( 60% costs) = 29,240 NOI29,240 at a 10 cap is a value at 292,400 ( This is optimistic as D areas trade for 12 caps usually).175,000 purchase plus  estimate likely 13k to 14k a unit rehab so about 196,000.

Being in the trades which can be very sensitive to the economy, I'm want to avoid getting too leveraged. 

Good data is fundamental to exceptional execution. 

I'm thinking about adding some value and exiting with a short term hold (3-5yrs) to trade up via 1031.

I'll trade dollars for that peace of mind any day.

If we're still ok, I'll try to buy it preauction if that's available.My experience with auction.com in the SW Ohio area is that about 15% of the houses listed wind up trading on their platform.  

People will write off everything in E Saint Paul because its a "bad" area, but its as large as a small city, so there are some great neighborhoods and some terrible neighborhoods.I think the major competitive advantage in the Twin Cities is that its very steady.

Be careful, everything needs to be perfectly executed.

I am a second year finance major and have been trading stocks since 11th grade.

They are all 4 unit properties or less, so they will not trade based off of a cap rate.The unit being vacant IS NOT A DOWNSIDE.