Usually I look for a value add like turning a half bathroom to a full, or adding an additional bedroom, but the comps were strong and I knew by cleaning the home up I could easily find the value.

@Agyei Axum i have been renting by the room for the last 7 years. that is actually all that i do. i would strongly suggest doing that in your case to boost cash flow in your expensive market. i would find comparables in order to price effectively.

Usually you have the home style loans for a conventional lender, they take time to close though rates might be 5.5Then you have portfolio lenders usually local bank who can fund repairs and purchase.

Feeding from the Question2.. how do you know if a city is a strong rental market?

My goal was to buy single family homes in distressed properties ( short sales, or NOD leads by calling home owners and seeing if they want to sell before they go into foreclosure)  in a growing population area with strong job growth and buy, add value , and rent them out for tiny bits of cashflow and wait for appreciation. 2 main questions I have at the moment. 1) How did you pick your market to buy your first investment? 

You need to have a really strong operating agreement.

Thinking of keeping it loft-style, big open spaces except for bedrooms and baths, trendy but low-cost finishes, hopefully 2 beds/1 bath per unit. 

All was not rosy though, as the property did not cash flow even with the strong rent.

The property didn't cash flow even with strong rent.

as I belive some people are trying to avoid the hassle of furnituring style and overall cost but not sure if they are the majority in the market or not.