I own a duplex in Clermont, FL just outside of Orlando and initially wanted to split water meters between the two units, but the cost and amount of work were higher than expected.

Yes we avoid custom work to help keep cost down. 

You pay your agent at closing (think of it as an additional closing cost) Depending of the situation and of these options can be used by you and your agent to negotiate with the seller.

Would the value of the remodel increase the rents or the selling price that would out weight the cost? 

It did not cost me $0.01.  

The process from start to finish would take four months and cost ~200k to build, with comps in the area around 355k-lender man said, refinancing would take six months as most lenders wont refinance a property unless its been built for six months, affecting the strategy to get paid out from refinancing quicker and closing out on construction loan-The property would not appraise at comps value, but at the cost it took to build, affecting getting paid out from the refinance.

This allowed our partner, Jamari Sprueil, to move forward without any upfront costs.

Can try to reposition to Class B, but neighborhood may impede these efforts.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, but 15-20% should be used to also cover tenant nonpayment, eviction costs & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores of 560-620 (approaching 22% probability of default), many blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 2 years.

That's not the same as paying cash.According to a different post, your credit card debt costs you $600/month.

Way better returns on the cost seg than you'd ever cash flow from an LTR.