Some owners buy it for the lifestyle of live/work and some purely for investment which means cash flow is important.

Since you are buying for your personal home as well as an investment you are looking at everything with a different perspective than someone would if they were looking at the pure investment potential.

I would keep it as simple as possible for you.Smartlocks requires batteries and that will be a problem one day when the tenant gets locked out because they wouldn't change the batteries.

Not much of a deal to put up your own money at that spread, but that environment has changed with increased rates, all while the CD loan spread has not changed of 2%.Now, it’s purely cost of capital, 8% nets a no deal in a lot of cases, but what if you could structure it closer to 2%?

Its purely informational.

Initially, the goals were purely income based, ($ per month) and I was very active in the business. 

We also asked the existing tenant if we could run one extension cord to the site for battery chargers, and a hose to spray the dirt down before digging to keep the dust down.

Better to just buy some storage units, RV park, or something like straight to pure commercial, strip mall etc.  

Most building codes require you to add in hardwired smoke/co detectors which is more expensive then just putting in battery powered ones.Dont worry about the baluster spacing... it is grandfathered in.Have the contractor who is bidding on the front railing add to his bid securing the indoor railing.Have the electrician add to his quote the adding of GFI plugs where neededGet a fireplace inspector to come out for both fire places.Overall... make sure you either get the seller to reduce the house for the repairs that are agreed upon or that they use a contractor/electrician/roofer/fireplace inspector that you agree with.

Without knowing the condition of the inside of these comps, it's purely comparing size, location, yr built, sq ft, rooms, these are the known variables.I looked up a property on realtor.com in the same area that the investor is trying to sell for $154k after it was all fixed up.