If not the dishwasher could be a major issue.I have lived without one but that was during college and shortly after.

2 hrs away, for a major market?

This is where most of my business is done.Bandit Signs - affordable guerilla marketing tactic but garners a lot of calls from tire kickers, retail buyers with unrealistic ideas, etc.Newspaper ads - I was running a penny saver ad a while back and it started to get very costly because I was told I cant test an ad for 2 weeks.

(I don't back out unless there's a major problem, but this has happened a few times with my buyer's agent).

I am not talking about just going to court.I am talking about 3 day notice to quit,filing eviction,court date in the mail,going to court if tenants answers and getting judgement and writ,then paying writ fee and waiting for the marshal to set up throwing the stuff out.These time lines and processes will vary by state.In some areas the marshalls are backed up serving the writs.So if it takes 2 months to get them out and the writ takes a month then it will be 3 months of lost rent.4 if you get them out mid month unless you can land someone living in a hotel or moving to the area mid month.Then you would only lose 3 1/2 months.You also have to factor in time to turn the place and clean it and rent it out again.The fact you accepted a reduced rent will make it hard to get an eviction in court.Accepting a partial rent usually means you are doing a workout with the tenant.So for instance of I can get a majority of the rent I might do a workout.If the tenant wants me to stop eviction for 100 dollars I tell them to pound sand. :)What you do will also depend on your personal cash flow situation.Are you trying to preserve personal credit and do you have a recourse loan on this property??

Therefore, most people do not make major improvement to the property.

My biggest impediment to expanding my business is that I'm a major control freak, and I wouldn't be comfortable investing in locations I'm unfamiliar with.

Remember as an investor it is not the VOLUME and size of the deals you put together because many can be crap it is the QUALITY of the deals you do.I would rather spend a few months doing an awesome acquisition than buying up marginal to okay deals left and right.I have seen this happen on flips and long term holds.In both cases the investor did real well on one property and then started getting carried away.Pretty soon a couple of marginal deals starting to tank their long term portfolio into a neutral or negative position.Even on flips they made good on a few and then the next few went real bad and they were almost at square one again.You have to treat this business like a pawn shop.You will come across many sellers but few will accept your price and terms.So you have to keep going or come back to the seller until they get desperate enough to meet your terms.A classic tactic with a seller is when they will not accept your price and terms.Then a few months pass and they come back to you.Then if you have a couple deals on your plate you come from a position of power.You let them know you are involved with other projects now and to take this property on now you couldn't pay what you offered before and can now only do XX.There will always be another quality deal to be had but millions of marginal to okay deals to get stuck in for years and paralyze the growth and success of your real estate investment portfolio.

One of the major hurdles is finding land that is zoned for a high enough density that it can make sense.

3XXX Tartarian, Needs MAJOR clean up, carpet, paint.