Then, open home depot site  and find out how much materials will cost.it will be a good practice.Last part will be collecting separate bids, and before you do that decide what needs to be done in specifics, like how many recess lights you will need...If you spend some time, it will be very helpful.

How about collecting close to market and using some towards "bonus" upkeep and upgrades?  

If you’ve got several units you can reasonably expect some to keep collecting rent, assuming you follow basic principles in terms of selecting a market, setting attractive market rates, seeking the best tenants, etc.

This is my passion.Not everyone want to house people, some just want to collect the rents, some want to flip, some want to do what they call wholesaling--which to me is more of a self employed situation than actual investing, although I do see the overlap.

I think changing the name may put you at legal risk as you are only legally allowed to collect certain things from tenants depending on your area. 

So essentially the land is just sitting there not collecting taxes. 

if you mean net like Net from collected rent  that could be pretty tough in 3 years unless you stumble into some unbelievable deals.

@Lydia S. about 20 years ago there were a lot of houses that had cracks in the foundation and owners filed insurance claims with their insurance companies to collect money to fix settlement issues. 

A LLC would protect you to an extent but also show as a red flag to landlords that they would not be able to collect as easily which could scare many off. 

As @Joe Splitrock mentioned, you need to be collecting enough money to account for the parts of the house that are wearing out but not costing you direct money every month - the roof; the water heater; the HVAC; the flooring; ETC.