Her financial situation didn't seem to have improved and she is still perpetually behind on her rent. 

The market has improved over the past 12 months and we have been able to push rents 3 times already with no drop in vacancy. 

When you compare properties you just need to figure out how much mortgage is out of your pocket every month.. and if that property is in a better neighborhood that would be an added bonusI know investors who house hacked to move into a better area, bigger and nicer home and the total mortgage they are paying didn't change much but their building and area class improved significantly. 

Don't over-improve your personal residence if you plan to use as future rental...

We recommended 18 months ago that he increases the rent by about $200/month and we estimated that he needed to spend about $200,000 to improve the units to justify the rent increase. 

Hi @Bryson Scott, congratulations on successfully executing a tried and tested strategy of creating equity and improving cashflow by renovations and improved management.

@Hai Loc I feel like they try to make efforts to improve Hilltop, but it comes with mixed results.

Most investors I know in Northern Virginia self manage to improve their returns.Why are you locked in to townhouses?

I did determine there seems to be a need for Handymen however.I have a full time job now, but I really enjoy working on smaller home improvement projects. 

Those type of investors would almost certainly want a higher return than you would pay on a mortgage so it doesn’t make sense for you2) If you have stabilized the property and improved the NOI you could do a cash out refi to get most of your capital back but you would still maintain a cash flowing asset.