If it's done right and the layout makes sense you recover your money on the added value of the house, not in the monthly additional rent.

Additionally, determine the anticipated after-repair value (ARV) of the property.

Working off of the scenario that we would get 70% of our appraised value of 220K, our cash out would be 154,000.

Not sure what rent control is in place where you are, but you can also use the opportunity to get the rent up to market value.

Let's say your seller bought the condo for $75,000 back in 1993, and today it's worth $300,000 - completely fictitious numbers - but go with it...Where I live (in Florida) there is a cap on how much the government can raise your property taxes a year... it's like 3.5% a year of the assessed value.  

These assessments aren't just disappearing into thin air, they will be used for maintenance that will help stabilize/increase the value of her property.Your SFH requires maintenance and you should have reserves for that.

I recommend networking with other investors and asking for personal recommendations, using companies (not individuals) with strong reviews on Google, etc.

If you can't get cash out, consider the likelihood of your market appreciating further/bouncing back from where the market currently is, as well as whether you can do any value add to your properties to boost their values.

They don't know what they're doing and likely won't do the job right, that protocol is critical for understanding how, when, and what should be done.I hope someone out there finds some value in this post!

If you are looking at value-add assets, quickly look for market rents in the submarket and current rents, if current rents are within $100 of market rents, there is not enough juice in the deal to make it worth while3.