Landscaping - $500Appliances- $2500Refinishing Cabinets- $200- Very liberal estimateFlooring- Carpet upstairs, hardwood/vinyl tile downstairs- $3,000Miscellaneous fixtures, bathroom vanity, toilet seats, supplies, etc.- $2,000Total: $11,000I will be doing most of the work myself, I have a family member who has worked in remodeling for the last decade to work alongside me. 

It isn't a "bad" neighborhood in terms of crime and abandoned/boarded homes; it is probably a solidly blue collar neighborhood supplying the airport and surrounding businesses with employees.

Title companies can supply some data.Trouble with any source except the MLS is that information about the property and any seller concessions aren't recorded. 

Let's PM to coordinate a place and time.As far as your friend's place, in those numbers there is no room for capital expenses, regular maintenance, utilities (in NY heat and hot water must be supplied by the landlord), or vacancy, so I wouldn't consider his cash flow to be $300/month.

Doug,Sounds like a great opportunity if good PM's are in short supply in that area.

They have no motivation to supply that to you.

The rental demand is very strong right now and acquisition prices are still fairly low, but the supply of bank-owned / foreclosure properties has tightened up a bit over the last 6 months.Have you looked at particular sub-markets?

Demand is quite a bit higher than supply so the "one month fee" has been shifted from landlord to tenant when paying realtors. 

Looks to positively cash flow, rent demand outweighs the supply considerably. 

We are more like silent partners that supply funds.