I assume you can roll paint, so while you have these contractors lined up, as them what the cost would be, see what paint costs along with your materials and consider your time, doing this may save you some money on small things you might do yourself, but you can present the bids and the appraisal to base your offer on.You also need to explain that an appraisal is an estimate, not a true value and that you need to make a reasonable profit if you are in the business and justify your offer.Saying older lady doesn't mean much, if she is elderly I suggest you take some additional steps after you get a contract and that is to involve some center of influence, her kids, her attorney or someone who may advise her.

My numbers don't assume any appreciation, so I just need things to not get worse!

Make sure you assume a high and low season rental rate and property management costs , and cleaning if you are not local.

I assume the original?

It is not going to help your DTI unless the lender agress to let the new entity assume the loan or you refinance with the new entity.

Assuming you get a private loan to finance the purchase then do a term refi to get the capital outlay back out it usually isn't a great cash flow place.

That's not a bad thing, I would assume I stand to make some money if they do.

I assume as I go into the deal that all will need the same things such as flooring around $2,000 dollars per house. $1,400 to paint on the inside.

I'm assuming a 3 bd place would cost more than a 2bd place.What about the security deposit?

This assumes your credit is sufficient to make sure you can utilize conventional financing effectively otherwise FHA for the primary home will allow the most leverage at 96.5% loan however FHA adds 1.75% of your loan that gets financed into your loan and an additional 1.35% annual mortgage insurance.