As a new owner I'm not even allowed to put up the rent even if the current owner chose to not increase rentals in years.Does anyone have some good news or facts to share that would give me a spark of hope here?

The good news is that there's only 3.5 months left in the year. 

This summer, builder came back and said they need to increase the price by 10% due to increased expenses. with all the news around lumber prices, I sympathized with the buyer and agreed to pay the additional amount.

@Rob Bergeron not a fan of the news.

Keith MillerMissoula, MontanaHi Keith, OK--Vision a great topic.You might want to look into how to do a Vision Board.Some sites recommend cutting out magazine pics and pasting them to cardboard (welcome to 1950).A better way to do it is to use Excel and just grab pics from google and insert text boxes below them.Good Luck!

I highly recommend the excellent biggerpockets book by @Brian Burke: The Hands-Off Investor.   

In Newport News, check out Towne Bank and see what they're doing. 

Excellent point to consider!

He opened the coolest-looking excel model for a prospective property they were looking to buy out-of-state.

@Chris Mandle If you can't get any assistance I can refer a contractor that is an investor and works at a fair price and a waterproofing company that does excellent work and gives clients a discount as they have a partnership with my current brokerage