My personal experience too and this is for those that do not plan on owning them forever and willing them to your kids or next of kin at a stepped up basis.but for those like me that were thinking hey I will own these 7 to 10 years take the write offs then sell retail..I did all that sold retail but what I was not thinking about is that a 10 to 14 year old home even though I bought them brand new.. to sell retail   what was acceptable when I bought them  tile counter tops  black appliances etc etcnow retail buyers standard is granite stainless  new paint 3 colors floors perfect etc etc.so it was costing me 20 to 25k per home to do a retail up grade to sell them for retail prices.. along with cap ex ( which in my case was minimal) since these were only 10 to 14 years old.. but then roofs being replaced because of hail that cost deductible.. and so on and so forth.. the cost of owning and keeping these nice is just more than you can raise rents in most markets.. that's my experience I got top rents in the day but they never went up much during the 10 to 14 years of  ownership.. just like I see modest type rentals that rent for 700 to 900 those rents have stayed pretty constant for the last 20 years .. and prices to fix stuff has gone way up.. 

I think the tenants that are good find a good landlord and stay with them forever so there is not a bunch of movement of the good ones.

I have come to like the house since it was purchased for 50k the cheap mortgage has enticed me to stay.

I want to stay under $115,000.

And lastly, it is possible to access your retirement funds prior to age 59 1/2, you can find more details on how to do so in this article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/...I think you are well ahead of most people in your age group, starting this early and maximizing your Roth IRA investments will set you on the road to financial independence, just stay diligent!  

If all stays the same (which is likely will not) look to take advantage of first time buyer hud homes.

Then ideally, you have already profited $30,000 because you stayed under the ARV.STEP 2.

If this is what you have been looking for and you have talked to the seller and found out his story of retiring from the game, looked at the numbers and it makes sense for your "WHY", then all that is left is to execute on the deal and stay on course with your due diligence on the asset itself. 

I purposely staggered the leases to expire 2 months apart, and I made them shorter so that I could get a feel for the tenants and address any issues with a new lease if they opt to stay on.

Is there a value range you have to stay under?