Learning is progressive.

As others have said, you need to really evaluate how important it is to you to get the current tenants out so you can rehab.

I'm here to gain knowledge of how to evaluate properties and plan to invest in a property within the next year.My strategy is to buy foreclosed single family homes and rent it out for positive cash flow.Preferably looking out of state cause NYC real estate is hard to achieve that 2% rent rule.All tips/pointers are welcomed!

Its never too late to make money, things can progress as fast as you want them to. 

However, if the maintenance issue is an bigger one, I usually need to make several trips: Check it out myself first, meet someone to get an estimate, check progress of work if it is over multiple days, review final work, etc. prior to paying for the services.

But I thought the purpose of Cap Rate was to use as an evaluation of a possible purchase.  

But, when dealing with a "historic" home, I would probably err on the side of caution and evaluate the potential needs for each individually. 

Ive had a few borrowers with properties up there that were evaluated.

But flips are a different beast so I'm evaluating my options and flipping is just one of them.

There is some serious investment knowledge being shared here.I'm from Houston and currently invest in single family homes in my area, but as I progress in experience and cash, I would like to go full steam into commercial retail strip centers.