@Rich CavanaghHi Rich,I think because a lot of people don't really do a projection of Rents and Expenses, they don't really know that if your Expenses INCREASE MORE than your RENT, you can still wind up Increasing your Cash Flow.Look at this example spreadsheet as an example:The Gross Rent is only increasing by 3% annually for 10 years.The Expenses are increasing by 5% per year for 10 years.BUT, because the Gross Rents are so much higher than the Expenses, about 5 times higher, a small increase in Gross Rents is larger than a "Larger Increase in Expenses."

Of course that increases the amount of replacement real estate you need to purchase in order to defer all tax.

Ergo, rental property demand will increase.The longer-term reality, if it comes to fruition, is twofold: (1) FoxConn reports that its campus will host 10,000 employees, all those people and their families will need to live somewhere, and there isn't enough housing stock for them right now; (2) the demand for services will increase with the influx of people, which will increase the demand for commercial property.

Over the past 8 years we have seen more and more students say due the increasing number of jobs.

You will have increasing rents, property appreciation, tax write offs. ect.

Any suggestions on how to increase the chances of getting financing?

BUT it does have a large attic (1800 sq ft) above the property that was an old dance hall in the early 1900's, unfortunately the township won't allow it to be turned into a fourth unit, according to the sellers.So I'm reaching out to BP to see if any one has any ideas to help increase the NOI.I've thought about turning it into laundry but 2/3 units already have laundry, another idea is for storage but there is already a large garage on property that some of the tenants use.Anyway thanks for any input in advance!

Don’t wanna do a rent increase incorrectly, or worse make misteps with late payments or problem tenants. 

If I put some upgrades into the house during my two years occupying it, I could increase both the equity and rental value.

I see that in the calculations you didn't plan for an increase in rent after the reno.