I bought a gorgeous condo in a converted building - some shady developer put lipstick on a pig, it was leaking and rotting under that beautiful, freshly painted siding.

its true,watching some of those tv shows may make it seem glamorous.noboby would want a nightmare so its best to proceed with caution.i believe both buy and hold/fix and flip are great strategies

My fiance and I purchased our first true Real Estate investment in January 2016.

Your offer should be in writing.You will need to know the present balance, the potential, equity and their true motivation. 

I hope this is nothing but true.

Don't want to rain on  your parade, but success is not in these kinds of numbers and being too aggressive too soon with so little background, you're headed for a great disappointment IMO.Assuming all your acquisitions come true (1,2), you will need a team to manage the units - - heck, you'll need one full time employee to just process tenant applications, and move-in/out inspections. 

This is especially true when it comes to your exit strategy. 

We did repairs on it, made it beautiful, and now my contractor lives there.

, but it's just not true.

One of the beauties of real estate is leverage.