My end game is to show you a path to financial independence, whether that be at 45 yrs old or 70 yr old.  

How about realizing that when you use the current property taxes of a property you are buying to calculate your per door profit that the following year your taxes will reset to what YOU paid for the property and will likely significantly increase your tax expense - which can take you from a positive cash flow to a negative cash flow on a low cash flow property… now you are paying your tenants to live in the property every month out of your W2 income  hoping for an appreciation play until rents hopefully increase.I could go on and on.  

You will learn the cost of maintenance/cap ex and how tenant quality plays a big role.  

When it comes to a lifestyle property, it's another ball game and all the comments you wrote make total sense, especially for people who like similar things in life.

They used that period of unemployment to skip paying student loans and then try to get some kind of program/hardship deferral or something aka "gaming the system".

If appreciation is not there, however, it seems like a potentially long waiting game to see if your $60k investment today returns anything meaningful in the long run. 

Hey @Marc Shin, so yes on the games.

I currently live and invest in the area and know my market but many of out of state investors get taken advantage of if there don't play an active role Detroit.

You just have to get in the game, learn, and adapt as you go. 

Focus on what the rents will look like post-renovation with 4 units instead of 2, and have a clear game plan for refinancing to pull your capital back out.