Markets that appreciate also have rents that appreciate...play the long game and resist the urge to chase after the best day 1 cash flow option.And you mentioned your obsession...that's a good to place to start.

I had to learn how to guess how much value I could add to a property and base my guesses on facts.The journey was already hard because of the lack of experience and information at the start.

I know I've got a long road ahead of me but I have a strong feeling everything will play out well on the end.

Condition and location play too much of a rule. 

If you are playing the long game, which you should with rental real estate you will come out ahead. 

I know eXp has few fees, but they have a heft tech fee since they are a cloud-based national brokerage. 

I agree with Taz that TX is a good market for the capital appreciation play, however, you are not going to get the monthly cash flow you are seeking as the property taxes are 1.6%, the 7th highest in the nation. 

Joanne There are insurance companies that will insure more than 10 properties on a personal umbrella but it can be tricky based on the companies providing the underlying insurance, the makeup of the portfolio, the state you're in, etc. 

However after all the work thats required which includes landscape, parking lot, fencing lighting and interior/exterior work, it looks like the presumed cost of remodeling it will be double that, although Im not positive (still taking bids).Ive priced a comparable property in our area which has similar square footage and lot size and they seem to be going between $700-800k, and so my question is: based on a higher than expected construction cost which is necessary to finish our project, one which will exceed the amount of money of what a similar property goes for in our neighbrhood, should I continue with this project, or an alternative plan would be to simply beautify it for approximately 100-150k and ditch the plans, and flip it instead for approximately 700-800k now that its zoned commercial.My fear is that if I do invest the moneys to finish the project over the budget I initially priced it for, and the business doesnt take off, I would initially lose money on this investment.Thank you for taking the time reading this.

There's an entire semester-long course in law school called Civil Procedure (the absolute worst - *shudders with fright at the memories*) about figuring out the answer to that question based on the facts.