You just need to weed through more weeds to find grass (while keeping 1 and 2 above in mind at all times).Some areas are almost all weeds and considered very tough to make a profit in (High Crime, etc..).They are cheaper for a reason (it's risk/reward as set by the free market).Know your Customer--Why did the Resident buy a 200,000 mile car at a "Buy here pay here" that sits on your parking lot leaking oil and not running? 

I see the major investors that own hundreds of these in my areas being way more hands on than I want to be, so is there a way to build a portfolio of low income housing without it becoming a job because of it's high maintenance nature?

Since the insurance company wants to keep the premiums the lowest possible, they need to budget for the worst-case interest rate and the lowest amount of premium that will allow the cash value will grow reach the death benefit by the time the client reaches their natural life expectancy.

That's the nature of the game we're in.

Even if you use zero natural gas.

(another subject) and I can't get an outfit to drill a well there because all the exploration right now is in West Texas (just west of Fort Stockton) .. pretty sure there is both gas and oil under me but why would they want to drill there when there is much cheaper desert way over in west Texas?

Is this for investment property or owner occupied.I'm not licensed in your state, so I can give you some natural third party advice.

If we were to put in new units, they would have to be up to code in regards to amount of natural light in units, parking, ceiling height, etc… But since we are connecting to the existing studio, all that is taken care for.

ok I think you get my point here.Option 2 generally pops up on the second or third turn, because human nature steps in and you get very tired of spending $2-5k a turn when people don't take care of the nice things you offer them. 

Cap Rates are dynamistic in nature, so focus on how you can increase Cash Flow potential now and in future projections.