owner has not rented it out this semester due to do some rehab, actually did most of the bathrooms and they are in good shape, carpet is awful, needs paint, kitchen cabinets and better lighting. lower level apt needs gutted due to toilet leaking from above. here are the numbers:purchase price 330krents last semester avg=333/month, did not rent over summer, "I let them just leave their stuff til the next semester", my friend was seeing RED after this statement...expensesrents (if occupied at 333)=3663/monthtaxes 2200garbage =100 (actual quote from WM)water and sewage 525electrical=passed through to tenantPM=started looking, but quotes at 8-10%insurance= 300 (est.)planning on ripping carpet out and going with vinyl hardwood throughout, new cabinets in kitchen and paint, fix lighting and general clean up. plan to get rents up to 500-550 month, lease term 1 year. interviewed PM and he said they take one month's rent for placing a tenant, is this typical?

We are considering refinancing to pay off some debt and take out our PMI to lower our monthly pay down.

"Deciding" to artificially lower these amounts in order to qualify for a mortgage is otherwise known as mortgage fraud.

@Matt Morand In our experience, the costs to turnover a unit are directly tied to the class of tenant living in the unit and how long they have lived there.If you are dealing with lower C and D type areas you can expect at minimum to have to repaint the entire apartment and any carpeting every time someone moves out.

Cons: my grandfather hack jobbed most repairs. leaking roof, stoop and porch need redone, lower unit kitchen needs complete remodel, 4-5 coats of paint on all walls, reoccurring mold in 1 bedroom and same bedroom needs insulation, upstairs unit you can hear anything and everything, all doors are original that came with the home, also have 4-5 coats of paint on them. small cockroach pest problem (not severe YET), Bathroom needs remodel and sewage lines need repair.

Finding homes as investments has lower criteria in at least the finding aspect than finding the forever home. 

Or just how to calm down the anxiety starting out with something out of my comfort zone?

Maybe a slightly lower paper return, but a lot less risk

Remember, if the numbers don't work at the asking price, offer a lower number that does work. 

Even if you do have a low CTR rate cause you are in these lower positions, the idea is the more auctions you show up on the more chances you have of getting clicks and spending that full budget.Contrary to popular belief, which is just showing up #1 for every keyword, statistically speaking if you only show a couple of times in those high positions you end up getting 1 click and lets say you have a 4% conversation rate your going to have to get a lot of those really expensive clicks in order to get a conversion but if your bidding at a fraction of the rate your going to get a lot more traffic.