I am just down the river from you, in Batavia and am looking for distressed single family properties in the fox valley area.I looked at a property last week you may be interested in, numbers didnt pan out for a buy and hold but may be worth running them for a fix & flip. 

Them old time plumbers used to notch 2/3s of a bathroom joist to run a 4" cast iron pipe for the toilet.

My goal before renting this house out is now to have 25k in reserves which pans out to about 6 months of expenses for my home.

Low-flow toilets and LED lights are often great investments.

I also have tenants who always seem to have some problem: the toilet, noise from the neighbors, dogs barking, etc.

Aloha,Local laws on including in the rent may vary, but IF you are paying, regardless of how you address this with tenant rents, you need to perform annual testing to ensure there are no unreported leaks such as running toilets or dripping faucets that are literally throwing your money down the drain.

It's kind of like multi-family except you don't have to deal with the three T's - tenants, toilets & trash! 

Capex is long term higher expense repairs/replacements like the roof, water heaters, gutters, siding, hvac while repairs are small things like a clogged toilet, broke a fan chain, small drywall patch, etc.

We are constantly looking for something we could put a little sweat equity into but it seems like even people with run down rentals on the market are asking prices that (after renovations) wouldn't pan out to be much different in terms of ROI percentage to just buying brand new.

All new LVP floor covering, mini splits, bath vanities, toilets, paint, fixtures, etc.