No idea what the $650 is for.very fast talker and gets upset really easily when you question his service.

Income and Costs (all numbers are annual)Nominal rent - 43.6kActual rent - 37.3k (14.5% vacancy.  33% turnover rate)Management - 4.5k (10.6% - could bring down with a PM switch)Maintenance - 5.0k (11.6% - ok, older building and a fair amount of tenant turnover)CapEx - 2.4k (5.4% - mostly plumbing costs: is that a worry?)

It looks like you're already in Birmingham, so a quick drive around the neighborhood shouldn't be an issue and can save you a lot of headache in the end.If the Calera property adds up without relying on appreciation, and you have already done due diligence on what the rehab consisted of, who's selling it and what their performance metrics are like (tenant turnover, maintenance rate, occupancy etc) then that is the best of your two current options.

He needs to give out emergency numbers for maintenance and also who they now pay their rent to.

 (25K for the swap, $10K for the appraisal/condition inspection $10K for the   (They felt there was about $900,000 in maintenance that would need to be done over 10 years)  Roof's, elevators, blacktop etc.   

Anyone has any recommendations for a good certified well contractor that services the twincities area?

Although, I don't really know what you're paying for this service.

@Daniel PattersonDefinitely check out Frank's book like Roy mentioned, but we typically use Cash-On-Cash Return, Cap Rate, and Cashflow after all expenses, renovations, and debt service.

Who places and later removes  the sign in the front yard (some brokers pay a service to do this)?

It's highly likely that Wells knows the owner is an active duty military service member.