After talking to several other agents in the area, we decided that the value of the home in decent condition is roughly $240,000, which gives us some room for improvement.  

Start looking now, saving more at this point will not improve your plan.

However the one for 259K pretty much has all the improvements that the $325 one is offering.  

Its often talked about using a HELOC to help purchase other rentals, home improvements etc.

We made an offer on some apartments last August and the Sale Agreement included $20,000 in escrow and $5,000 cash to go toward some current improvements.

Raising rents on SFRs will never change the appraised value.Not true ... buying a SFR under retail market value that is below the comps and then improving it to the level of those comps in a manner that costs less than the value added is forcing appreciation.

I started with a horrible score, but worked my butt off to improve it.  

Its difficult to know where the market is going but if you buy something that will cash flow after your improvements then it doesn't really matter.  

Hello again Bigger Pockets Community and Real Estate Professionals of Rhode Island, I'm looking for the popular effective apps to use if anyone uses apps for the following:Mortgage Apps Property Evaluator apps ( for address, projected rents, Income, expenses, financing info, improvement costs, buy & hold,etc )Searching for residential and commercial properties appsPDF app for signing, pads, deals, contracts, etcApps for landlords to keep track of tenants paying rent, etc Rental property apps that estimate potential monthly, annual cash flow and the ROI (return of investment) for a propertyRental property Portfolio apps that tracks one's properties in totalReal Estate contract apps Offer appsI did look for a couple of apps such as; Easy Mortgage app, shake up law app, etc but wanted to hear from the RI Real estate community of what apps you use or have used currently for efficient usages as an investor of real estate?

There has been a lot of investment in improving that area over the past few years: three low-rent apartment complexes have been demolished to create mixed-use higher end retail space (Roswell Rd and Windsor Parkway) as well as new construction apartment and town-homes (1mi north.)