Depending on what market you are investing in, hopefully you can find a property that has an opportunity to be improved but not disqualified from FHA funding (they'll usually require that the home is in livable condition, meaning all structural and mechanical elements are in tact).

That way if a tenant goes out you might be able to improve the credit quality with a regional or national tenant at higher rent rates and compress your cap rate value and grow NOI.The retail centers that will get pounded are those to the side, behind other buildings, poor sightlines, etc. where only mom and pop tenants wanted them because rent was lower in a nicer area.

For this, your cash-on-cash would be $25k purchase, $25k improvements, and $9k/year NOI.

Also as mentioned, you would need a 6-month seasoning (from the time you purchase the property and take title) and receipts/paper-trail of improvements completed in order to refinance, especially if looking to take cash-out. 

I would like to introduce these features to improve efficiency and rent collection.

You said you're out of money so I won't recommend staging, but I do recommend you research some ways you can do your own staging type improvements, if possible.

The most common is for acquisition and improvements and it starts when you pay a vendor, let us call it Actual cost.

Hi all,I am 39 years old and currently living in NYC.  I am looking to jump into my first rental property... of course, outside of NYC.  I currently have a credit score in the low to mid 6s and have roughly 25k in uns...

What I mean is, many people buy the property pretty cheap, make significant improvements to it, and now want to do their cash-out refi based on 75% LTV of the new value.

As time goes on, my systems are improved, my comfort level grows, and I am able to pull the trigger faster, as I learn to recognize what fits my goal easier.