You made an awesome move buying in 2012 and also in Dogpatch, which is why you have almost $500k in equity in such a sort time span.

Hey all;I was driving for dollars today and i noticed what seem to be a distressed property. i took down the address and went to my county's tax assessor's office website to see if its an absentee owner. it turns out that the owner had the same address. i thought it was a bit odd so i took the owner's name and did a public index search.I found the owner's name, the address and a master in equity judge.it was titled Bank of so and so as Trustee VS home owner.There is a lot of information on here that i do not but wish i understood.i have so many questions.What does it mean? 

By purchasing the property at half price, you already have $50,000 in equity in the property, making a loan from a bank much easier for the remaining $50,000 purchase price.

Also, if I don't do a cash out refinance and it even appraises for only $275k wouldn't I have about $50k in equity or ~20%?

       Relatively minor updates/improvements will typically not force an increase in equity significantly greater then their cost.      

In our example after 10 years you will only owe $1.4MM on the building IF the property never appreciated one cent and it was still worth 2.5MM in 10 years you would have $1.1MM in equity.

We are at a point that we would make around $5,000 per year in equity and $5,000 in depreciation.

I use $25,000 or less to buy a $225,000 house for say, $200,000 (so I have built in equity) taking over the existing mortgage with PITI of $1200.

They have over 5 properties and over 4 mill in equity but there older and English isn't to great so at this point I want to figure the most logical decision on how to deal with the tenant and nothing else

Also, $35k in equity remaining after a $65K rehab is very skinny.