I'm just beginning my journey in real estate with a goal to flip properties and build a portfolio of rental properties.

You can look at the after repair value and subtract your costs. for example if it is worth $2M after fixing up, costs $1.5M to build, then the land is worth $500K.2.

New investor here looking to build my network out with property managers in the area.

we build a stacked triplex. get Rid of the garages, skip the suburban markets of columbus. adjacent downtown neighborhoods are selling for $320 per sq ft on average across 7 zip codes I just ran numbers in Powell you'll never get it approved for zoning maybe outside in delaware county but you are only building more rural.

If the price to replace is within budget I'd do it because you're putting out a newer/safer/more reliable product.2) Cost to replace the entire systems is tough to gauge without knowing the building size and style...

Or does it purely my choice of whether I want cash flow or equity build? 

I got the owners to agree to pay for a new water heater for the building (about $4000), and $10,000 of seller paid closing costs.

I want to build a rental income portfolio in milwaukee.

I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the property and it is gone, or you figure out something is wrong, maybe the legal description, or the address, or there is $100,000 worth of junk there you need to haul off that was not in the pictures, or that cool commercial building, that when you get there has the faint words that you can now make out to be a former dry cleaner, or gas stations, or lead smelter, or oil change shop or something like that. 

And then shared that most people don't understand how much work it really takes to build up a portfolio.