Cured deferred maintenance (overgrown landscaping, peeling paint, tilted mailboxes), cosmetic work including interior and exterior paint, rebuild of patio fencing, striping of parking lot.

I wrote about it on the BP blog as well - https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/12057/85137-defer-and-eliminate-tax-through-opportunity-zone.Feel free to DM me if you have more questions @James Fraundorf.

If its a BRRRR property you might even be able to go lower on maintenance because you just rehabbed it and took care of any deferred maintenance.

(Of course, I'm assuming all the tenants are month-to-month - if they're on leases you'll need to wait until the leases are going to expire.)I also find that tenants are a lot more accepting of rent increases when they see that you improve their units and address any deferred maintenance or outstanding maintenance requests that the previous owner may have neglected.

It's hard to stand out.There are some new owner-occupied segments with people who share motivating factors for selling their home.Seniors with Long-time Ownership: often ready to downsize or transition to assistance.Homeowners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS): Struggling financially and likely ready to cash in on their asset.Both these categories have additional advantages in that they probably don’t haven’t been updated and may have deferred maintenance.

The owner is selling the property, deferred maintenance, mold, tenants who would have valid claims, and more.

If the numbers work, I go through the images and property disclosures to get a sense of the condition of the property and whether any sort of capital will be needed for deferred maintenance, rehabs, and or etc.  

See link for more info - https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/opportunity-zones-frequently-asked-questions#designatedThe essence is that you can invest capital gains into a qualifying fund and defer capital gains, even completely diminishing the taxes if you leave the funds invested for a specified period.

Sell thru 1031 so you defer paying the taxesHow do you decide between the two?

As you don't mention what sort of down payment you may have as well as what sort of cash flow you would have (either from the job or from properties).As the local market is pretty hot on multi-family (>5 units) properties and most listed properties have low cap rates, are older with deferred maintenance, and sometimes both.