Due to extensive renovations there was no rental income until January of 2014.I'm currently completing my (back) 2013 taxes.

There were a few that had significant renovations.

If you want to flip properties, find one that works with flippers and can ballpark a renovation project before bringing you to see the property so you aren't wasting your time.

I plan on buying a 2-4 flat, rent out the best units, and live in the worst unit and renovate it.

I read that you have to start small so I was looking into buying a property out of state around 20K-30K cash then taking a small loan for the renovations that would be needed to make the multi family home rent ready.

Things like moving homes into the park to fill up vacant spaces, renovating vacant park owned homes (which is radically different than the renovation of site built construction), selling homes (along with licensing requirements), carrying paper in the correct fashion, crafting the correct leases and notices with respect to the landlord tenant regulations for MHPs, etc.  

In addition to that house, I'm also trying to push my siblings with my Mom's house to get that rented at least (she passed in June 2012), but it needs renovation. 

I'm in Foster Powell, close to cafes and bars in the FOPO triangle.The duplex has been gutted and totally renovated, so pretty much everything has been replaced via a 203K loan.Each unit has 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.

I just invested 5k to do some renovation down there, I posted on Craigslist and have allot of interested for $1,000.

Your next best bet to find something cheap is the North End which is about 3 Miles North of Downtown, but off Woodward and Oakland Aves, or maybe the east Jefferson Area.Also, if your Spanish is pretty solid, and can handle dealing with people without a verifiable job, or immigration papers, SW Detroit, in Mexican Village could be an option.In all these places I mentioned you better be ready to dig in hard on a renovation, and take control of the property.