Any good references to a reliable, cost-conscious handyman in this area?

It took us a few months and a fair amount of money to upgrade all of the units and the exterior & turn over the tenants for higher paying ones, but we lived in one unit and rented the other 3 units for 4 years, living rent free in our unit and cash flowing $500-$700 a month on the other 3 units. 

There are certain other things that we always repair on our flips such as water heater replacement if they are near end of life, appliance upgrade, etc.

But I added it to several of my units along with vinyl plank flooring instead of carpeting and upgrade appliances and washers and gas dryers.

Then you can refinance it into a Conventional loan, and buy a new house with the FHA loan IF the new house purchase is a significant upgrade and/or is required for work/family.VA Loan - 0% Down. 

I plan on doing minor upgrades to keep it rented but it could still be a good opportunity later on with the talks of some upgrades going on around that side of North Charleston.

@Traolly Xiong  Hello Traolly congratulations on the hardest part, of making a conscious decision to take action.

The house appraised where I thought it would but the appraiser said with additional upgrades the appraisal would be about 15K higher.  

The village has done a great job on upgrading the Madison Ave biz district and the town is finally overcoming the impression many had of it being the place where folks in Oak Park went to drink.

One was a rental for several years and the other was an ugly house in a good neighborhood that needed about $30,000 in repairs and upgrades.