They were bad areas that would not likely improve anytime soon.  

check this tax record before you make an offer also go to Norfolk air and check code violations as well to see if it is in a rental inspection zone all before you offer to purchase.You may need some leverage to get the price resonable before you take on all the problems.

It depends on how long you have owned it and if you have made any capital improvements as well as other factors but a very "ballpark" number would be about $5K. 

It could be something wrong like drug activity, new company air pollution and etc. 

I read how to improve your financial IQ.

(his rent was 950-1000) My contractor and saw improvements that should be made to take both homes to their top potential and get the maximum ARV.

Doing the latter would improve my cashflow from that paid for unit from 1000/month (for the paid for house left as is and cashflowing) to about 1250-1400/month of cashflow with the cashout refi used to leverage 3 more properties.I intuitively understand that the refi method will in the end make more money, since I'll have increased my house numbers by 3 (from 3 to 6), adds ~450K to my portfolio in house values (each being roughly 150k) and will have renters paying down the mortgages and also covering taxes and insurance as well.  

The whole beauty of real estate investing is that you make your kitchen table dreams a reality with simple business models (buy and rent for more than expenses; or buy and improve and sell, etc) not red tape, endless processes, and the complexity and frustrations you face (or try to escape) in your day job...Like Dawn says with the first baby, the perfect can be the enemy of the good.. probably some investors get too caught up with the analysis to try to be prefect when they could get a good deal done and manage it well enough (whereas the perfect deal person is still just analyzing and daydreaming).  

@Gregory GuilletWhen you improve a property you have to have titleSub to, wraparound mortgage, etc. gives you titleLease option, etc does notGet title, improve and resell for profit

A recent personal example is of a commercial property I bought for $180K, made some improvements, raised rents and now have around $80K in equity.