Reason being, if that sector is dying or company starts laying people off, moves, or goes belly up, then you still have enough residents and potential residents left in that market to keep occupancy up etc.

Great job laying everything out, Drew!

If you want to know about laying bricks take your advise from the bricklayer , if you want to know about investing take advise from people who actually invest.

It is outstanding and lays the exact framework you are looking for. 

They upgraded our 'nasty' choice of tile backsplash at their expense & paid to install their choice of dining room, bathroom & kitchen lighting.

Go into as many properties as you can every week which are for sale with the following intention; see which properties are selling the fastest and how this compares to the location and the interior finishes (flooring, paint, cabinets, tile, etc).  

I can put you in touch with a few local ones that do, not guaranteeing they will lend on your project but they will lay out your best options and give you a better understanding of how to get it funded.

I was doing electrical as well, and I just over-layed the electrical diagrams on a copy of the floor plan by hand. 

Hey @Amy Zemser, a contractor doing much of the work may not mind making a very thin profit on one or two tasks (say, insulation, painting, electrical, etc) because that contractor will make a reasonable or compensating profit on, say, laying new floors or hanging dry walls (both of which can be labor intensive and take days).

Wow, that has to be one of the worst tile jobs I've ever seen.