If so, what would you study to help boost your career?

You're right dan, currently the units are 86% occupied, however after looking at the rent roll, it's apparent that some of the units were recently rented, most likely to boost those figures.I'm still going to do my digging and research before doing anything.

( HEAT OFF 5 MONTH A YEAR, HEAT CAPS OFF AT 70 DEGREES IN MOST UNITS ) MAINTENANCE / MANAGEMENT = $450 PROPERTY INSURANCE FOR $775,000 = $600 EST TOTAL EXPENSES = $3,850 [ ONCE CONVERTED TO ELECTRIC HEAT WE WILL SAVE OVER $1,000/MOS ( THIS UPGRADE WILL COST ABOUT $30K ) $3,850 - $1,100 = $2,750 TOTAL EXPENSES ] BELOW IS A SCENARIO HE HAS FOR BOOSTING VALUE OF PROP, but he does not take into account that he will lose quite a few tenant's.

It will take 2 years of tax returns before the bank will let you use the rental proceeds to boost your yearly income.  

We are at advantage but we need a boost to kick the first one.

When you have enough work to be done & capital to spend, you can trade less skills for less wage bringing support to the more skilled and boosting the overall performance.You need to figure out is who is going to do what & how.

I've not seen many inside renovations that were much nicer than the original with a poor exterior, exceptions are rehab types who failed on a project and those will need your GC's opinion.To that extent, I'd know what the focus will be on a property from the curb, but if I'm doing lipstick and flipping and can see needed repairs outside I'm going in myself before I call in the help.If you're going to deal in real estate you need to know what you're looking at which means you need to study home construction aspects.

I think curb appeal definitely plays a factor in attracting quality tenants, but I feel my options would be limited since I'd only own/have control over one side.  

@Tom Keith  Hopefully the broker I join will assist in providing some leads so I can use their client relationships to boost my marketing.

While curb appeal is important, as long as things look neat and kept outside, your tenants will care more about the inside of the actual units.Does the building have a very shallow pitch (3-4/12) hip roof or is it a flat roof?