If it costs me $500 to have smart lights, but I have LEDs everywhere and I save $25 annually with the smart light, the payback time is too long for it to likely be realized by me - not to mention that there's some likelihood the "smart" stuff will fail at some point, costing even more money. 

Or the biggie: (In light your personal experience), is the neighborhood actually NOT really good?... 

I also reached out to anyone I knew in real estate.The agent that sold me my personal residence (and sold my old one), told me about an opportunity that just came across her desk.

Functioning appliances, faucets all work, any flaking paint, any exposed spackle that hasn't been painted, and making sure all common area lights are working.  

You do not have public lights, laundry room? 

Can anyone shed light on how the proposed Trump tax reform would affect property depreciation. 

Many new homes the upgrade flooring is laminated popular in light gray at $2-3 from HD + installation. 

I did some painting and light stuff, anywhere I could provide some sweat equity on my first deal I did.

Consider installing motion lights and/or security cameras.

Which those are much more fun and light hearted topics than I would have imagined... but i guess you all bring up a good point a good portion of what your going to learn will happen along the way but the ability to look at a property in a simply financial way and pull the trigger seems to be where most people freeze up.