I was able to increase bookings and nightly rates compared to what the previous owners did.

If you can find someone with hustle and construction knowledge they may be able to help you take down a distressed property allowing you to create cashflow and increase equity significantly. 

The cheapest lifecycle for any deal has been like 23k, the most expensive life cycle has been 48kThe lifecycle includes:DownpaymentClosing CostsInsuranceHolding costs of loanUtilities and taxes at property until you sell/refiDownpayment to contractor to start workLike I said, the cheapest life cycle I've seen so far was 23k and that was for a deal with numbers of:60k purchase60k rehab170k ARVSo, you can imagine when you step it up and are buying distressed houses at 150k/200k and putting 100k+ into them the liquidity needed to survive the projects life cycle will increase dramatically.And as a rule of thumb, if a project can require a 80% - 100% cash on cash return in 150 days or less close to close then it is a good deal.So if the project life cycle costs you 30k, you want to net 30k as a return. 

Probably simple search on marketplaces could be lead me to a few states and cities.2.

For sake of argument, let's keep it simple, cashing out a traditional 401k, paying penalties/taxes and using balance to invest in rentals.Anyone done it/feedback? 

In the case of a roof, etc. you could renegotiate a higher sales price (amend the contract) to cover the cost of the upgrade (if the market will bear the increase).

It appears the units are below market, however with some cosmetic repairs and perhaps some capex's I feel I could increase the rent by at minimum (based on local comps) 68%.I would offer 85% of list and estimated $20,000 in repairs/upgrades (this is probably a generous estimate - the property appears to be in good shape, basically needs a face lift).With all these figures, including the 50% rule, financing with 20% down @ 3.5%, I come out to a profit of $262 per unit and a cash-on-cash return of 9.53%.So, does this seems reasonable?

Increase the term of your loan.  

Yes there is rent increase but only to the extent of what is reasonable with your competition.

Expecting to make 65K my first year, and looking to see what I can do to increase my net worth.