Of the metal exterior pieces I have seen once they start rusting they USUALLY have to be replaced.

If you select a good list, and use a mail piece that gets the phone ringing then you should be able to get a deal with a relatively small investment. 

My partner is a timber framer (specialty builder who uses oversized pieces of lumber to build houses, barns, etc. - think old world castle builder) so he cut some 9" x 9" posts and a beam out of Douglas Fir to replace the load bearing wall. 

What this equates to is instead of a 2,000 leather sofa lasting 10 years they have a piece of crap that is 15 years old handed down many times falling apart in few months.

I doubt my sector president or HR even knows my name unless it came on a piece of paperwork.

My unit is 2,060 square feet with a 3/2.5 layout and I actually have walled bedrooms and it is appraising for $273,000.When comparing this to Zillow's zestimate, the $209,000 piece of property has a zestimate of around $250,000 while mine has a zestimate of $263,000.

So, since this piece of land has a home on it, I found it odd that the SEV value was so low compared to other homes on the street (most of the time they are within the same ranges of each other, as most homes in subdivisions like this were built around the same time and tend to have a similar SEV for taxation).

Bill Exeter is absolutely correct on a great strategy for the patient investor to not just defer but actually eliminate the capital gains tax on a primary residence conversion - where you take a piece of investment property you have and "change it into your primary residence by moving into it.  

First, this is a piece of advice I recently gave to another newbie...  

There is a piece of paper from a fortune cookie posted in my area where I work.