Passing on utilities would be ideal.  

I wanted to get other ideas and philosophies from local investors in my area so maybe apply ideals that would work better.

Thanks for the welcome.I would ideally like to find a property in Livingston or Whippany or Roseland or East Hanover.

sorry about the not too pleasant experience.I think we all make our rookie mistakes.I think you overpaid and over-renovated in a less than ideal location.That's too many wars to fight at once.Location is the one factor in real estate that can never be improved.You can't even throw money at it.Do more homework on your next one.You'll be much wiser for it after this experience

I pay my installers that per job, not per day, otherwise I get some idiot who will screw up the job or maybe steal something from your house,    then I have to cover workmen's comp, general liability and commercial auto insurance, put gas in the truck to get them to the job, pay taxes and hopefully put a little bit in my pocket for the trouble of which out of that I need to have something to put back when I retire and pay my health insurance

Much easier and actually turns out to be better cashflow.I had enough drug dealing, shootings, assaults on the managers, stolen autos, keyed cars, graffiti, and verbal altercations to last a lifetime.There was one manager that was very successful with the residents. 

However that is not ideally somewhere I would want to live as I'm used to privacy , woods and wildlife.

Ideally this would be in Boston, but im open to the surrounding areas as well.Basically I would just like to start a discussion here regarding people's experience in this area, share creative ideas in terms of financing or about properties in foreclosure, REOs and short sales. 

For Example, I have a 5+ acre comercial property in a resort, so my advert says ideal for hotel or restaurant, then I go into specifics about why it would be a great place to put a hotel  find the sizzle that sells the steak  To your successJosh

Ideally you would want to visit the markets you are considering buying in, check out the turnkey providers and run your own numbers.