Our appraisal came back at 170K, citing "Fair" functional utility because it is a 1 br/1ba & a recent foreclosure on a comp home lowered the appraisal value.  

.- unless you're doing most of your own maintenance, the lower maintenance costs are attractive- Older houses split into rental units often come with shared, landlord paid utilities which I hate- You'll have less turnover in a newer, nicer placeAll of that to me means more cashflow upfront which you can save up for the second rental.

You'll have utilities on the unit you live in; why is cable an income rather than expense?  

Same example as above.Old property was originally purchased for $400K.Sold for $500K$100K net proceeds (assuming closing costs included to simplify the numbers)Using all $100K net proceeds, new property is purchased for $400K.Since I utilized the entire net proceeds of $100K into the new property, what would I be taxed on?

Having utilized LegalZoom of course they are providing all of these additional services, which are really just contracts to 3rd party vendors.

You can act unilaterally in any way you want to manage improve and utilize the property.D.

You can look up the local utility company and call them to find out the cost of water and sewer.

I am new to BP and look forward to utilizing the resources and forums on this site. 

.- it's always good to see another Hoosier utilizing this great site!

If you are determined to do the projects yourself, I would budget a year for holding cost; maybe 6 months if you are not employed (taxes, utilities, interest, etc).