After quite a bit of dragging my heals (I had finally gotten a job again and was learning the new job), I hired some people to come clean out the home and cut the grass/weeds.

Cleaning what what we’ve got.

There are a lot of vacant houses and the quality of tenants is often low or nonexistent on this particular block.

He's helped us get everything sorted out this year and cleaned up from our previous CPA who didn't really know what to do with these rentals.

Many of these people come from areas where dinner is whatever is caged in the backyard ,where household garbage is simply tossed out the window and using cleaning products is nonexistent .it will be a learning experience to say the least

Have you considered assessing your portfolio to determine which ones are the highest maintenance headache (or time-consuming tenant, neighborhood tenant quality) or which ones have appreciated notably over your original purchase (sometimes they are both and the same) and might want to consider selling while the market is in a relatively good place?

Rent is currently at $600/month but should be at $750-$800/month once the units are completely cleaned up.

Rent is currently at $600/month but should be at $750-$800/month once the units are completely cleaned up.

Lenders are typically more conservative here than in 90% of SE markets because of the combination of a low-income tenant base with minimal, quality jobs and the high military concentration in the sub-market. 

If I got it correctly you and one of your colleagues cleaned up well at the Wayne county auction this year.