I could be wrong, but less chance of deferred maintenance issues due to gradual water leaks in bathrooms in upstairs townhome style.I agree that 5 caps aren’t the best area, but if it’s a 5 cap and two units aren’t rented, that provides some immediate increase to income with a relatively low capital outlay.

I like your desire to make something happen and for looking for ways to improve your situation. 

You have a better chance of preserving these appliances if they don't operate while submerged.  

, I've hit the listings again and come upon a duplex that is included in the Urban Revitalization Plan (4A specifically); I understand there is some tax abatement on improvements up to $20,000 in 5 years on multi-families under 4 units.

In fact, I just closed a property at 7.8% without improvement in a class A neighborhood. 

HELOCs are still tax deductible under the new tax law but only for capital improvements on your personal residence.

Also I am looking forward to using the income from these properties to improve my debt to income so I can borrow more to buy more properties next year or the year after, how might this be affected by starting an LLC to manage my properties?

There could be a lot of different things that can happen that could delay it and I have found there are often delays; rarely do these types of things happen ahead of schedule versus the chance of them being behind.   

If you're concerned about the fast traffic, maybe some kind of barrier fence along that side would improve things?  

One technique for finding deals that intrigues me is looking up NODs (Notices of Default) in the public records and then reaching out to the property owners (probably via postal mail) to see if they are interested in selling.It seems like there's a decent chance to find a highly motivated seller and perhaps a very good deal using this method.I am wondering if anyone in the forums has used (or attempted) this technique, and if so, what sort of results you've seen.