Hello,I have a potential deal in downtowb Lowell, MA for a mixed used building (1 office space on 1sr floor rented for 950, 1 apartment on second floor, gutted.

I learned a lot from listening to BiggerPockets podcasts and reading the forums... there's a lot of great resources here... especially with analyzing/gut-checking if a deal makes sense or not.  

Be as educated as possible to take advantage of a situation that arises legally.For instance, in 2008, I saw a building 2 doors down from one of my 4 Family Investment buildings for sale.The only problem was while this building had the same number of floors, it was selling as a 3 Family because the 1st and 2nd floors were combined into 1 unit.The first thing I do when I asked for an appointment is go directly into the basement and look at the meters.What I observed was 4 Gas Meters and 5 Electric Meters.I didn't bother looking at any of the other floors because I knew the entire building would need to be gut renovated.I immediately put in an offer AT ASK and was accept immediately.So... what did I know that the seller and his Real Estate Firm didn't know?

  :)     This month is a year since we jumped in and bought the place, and then started renting it after the full gut-and-reno and all 4 of us (2 couples) love it.

The owner ripped the whole house apart to do a gut rehab, it's his own home, bought all the materials, then fell behind on the mortgage and SBA loan.

Full gut rehab.Rental Condo 2: Identical unit to #1, but required no work.  

---> Current Offer: $227k <---ARV: $345k-$370k MAX Rehab Cost: $85k Max  (FULL GUT) - Needs new roof which is probably going to be 1/3 of the budget. - Foundation needs work- Haven't been inside but from what we expect or assume its a max of the $85k Rehab Cost budget. 

Looking for opinions on which is better to invest in, minor fixers or complete gut rehabs. 

That is VERY LOW and typically only seen in brand new apartment complexes built or full gut to the studs rehabs for the first 5 years of ownership when everything is new.Typical expense is 50% of gross expected income and if landlord pays utilities 60% ESPECIALLY in cold belt states where properties tend to need more care and maintenance than many warm belt state areas.

My gut says that you’re right.