Now I'm left wondering whether it's best to lower the price to get the property off my hands asap or to make some costly improvements that will probably neutralize any increase in value.

This is basically a possible framework for my semi retirement.  5 year plan Assumptions-My own company is building everything (except electric) and cost savings can be opportunistic on overstocks, returns etc, but my cost assumptions don’t include any savings here.

Everyone seems to talk about including the costs of the new mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance & capital reserves, and the vacancy projections when looking at realistic cashflow, which we already do for all the properties in our rental portfolio.But we, like many, cant find properties that are making any cashflow sense right now.

Now I'm starting to see people push much further out to 3-4 layers away from primary job markets completely sacrificing location for cost of ownership or cost of living. 

My properties are listed on both, but I keep spreadsheets on "issues" their resolution and how much it cost to resolve them. 

Finally, closing costs were reasonable.Cons-  Quality control of closing docs. 

I’ve requested financial statements, tax history, utility costs, and information on the property management company.

Costs a fraction of the funds compared to hiring a cold call agency.

When we do the construction loan, we'll take the cost you paid for your lot, your soft costs (plans, permits, property prep, etc) and add it to the build costs (keep in mind, we'll make sure those amounts are fluffed and that they make sense).

I have an inherited tenant that I was putting up with because although her rent was always late... she did pay and I wanted to avoid the turn cost and headache of getting her out.