We are not a young couple able to house hack (read 2.5 kids, 2 dogs, 20+ years of married family living) but we do have experience in rehabbing, know our area (one of us used to be a real estate agent turned software engineer loves analyzing a deal), and have a bit of cash reserves (not enough to not require financing).

I just had one replaced by a licensed plumber here in VA.

Appraisal, Engineer and Contractor to asses condition, current value, and possible repair scope?

Gutted and replaced almost everything.

Gutted and replaced almost everything.

There are multiple reason why that is a bad assumption (that investor could be insuring that property at Actual Cash Value vs Replacement Cost, that property could be with an insurance carrier that no longer writes multifamily and the policy is grandfathered in until it switches ownership or that property could be under insured from the previous owner).  

We will be replacing flooring, cabinets, lights, vanities, toilets, paints, cleaning up the exterior, addressing the foundational needs and more!

You own the property and the residents are replaceable if needed.

At least in their markets, once the home is depreciated out, they can always replace or sell it in place for just the lot rent.

As you know rent is quite low (median in Milwaukee is about 1,200 for a single family) yet you have the same infrastructure to maintain: one kitchen, one bath, one HVAC, one water heater etc - cost of replacing a water heater is the same, no matter if your rent is 700 or 1200 or 1600 (which is our typical rent for a SF).Income (rent) is a function of size: bedroom and bathroom count as well general space meaning square footage.