Would you recommend jumping right into a cheap house (15k) that needed a lot of repairs like replacing water pipes, gas lines, floors in one room, A/C Duct, and rotting wood on the exterior?

All new foundation, all new plumbing, all new electrical, new furnace, new water heater, new siding, new roof, new garage door, new drywall (house was torn down to the studs and rebuilt when moved).

I separate out IMMEDIATE CAPEX versus ongoing capex.If landlord pays water I use 60% operating expenses total for vacancy, O and E, and PM.

In my experience, you should expect 2-4 weeks for issuance of permits if it's a typical large rehab that doesn't need to get reviewed for zoning, storm water management or environmental concerns.In terms of how many bids you should get, I'd suggest getting as many as necessary to ensure that you're comfortable that you're hiring someone you trust and that you're not paying too much.

I plan on seperately metering water asap.Problem is hot water for all 3 units are supplied by 1 hot water heater with that electric being paid for by tenant in apt C( they do not know they are paying the electric for everybody's hot water use).

Note you may want to save for a higher reserves fund.Common Utilities - Looks like your doing this already by hardening your rentals.One of my biggest bangs for the buck has been removal of all outside water bibs/faucets ;) no need to have tenants washing all their cars or watering the lawn.

Which I did and that was the end of that conversation.The thing I couldn't understand is that there was obvious water damage in the bathrooms and kitchen and he admittedly denied it.Also he had tenants in the house that were very unhappy with the condition of the house but he seemed not to care.

Thank you so much friends, and now with your last post Michaela its becoming clear that she is really under water.

If you buy you need to look for code violations, back property taxes owed, water liens, EPA issues with the land.

Is the house under water?