I was in your shoes once, and ended up helping my friend manage her 4 bedroom house that we were living in as roommates after she moved to out.

I'd just suggest you take a deep breath and first imagine that you were in your tenant's shoes. 

In the case I mentioned above, there were special circumstances of the sort @Rion Redinger mentioned.If I were in the tenant's shoes, I would feel deeply insulted if I got a "gift" from my landlord.

I like to put myself in my potential renters shoes and once lived near a busy street and it would keep me up some nights...let alone a big freeway! 

Your options are to bite the bullet and do the renovations to get applicants who can, at least, tie their own shoes. 

This guys IQ must be the same number as his shoe size if he’s only using the dishwasher as a rack to dry his wet dishes that he hand washed ..What a douche 

@Joanna GoldenThere are certainly private money lenders and hard money lenders that will do these kinds of loans, but my personal opinion if I were in your shoes, would be to stay far away from them if at all possible. 

Phil Grove is not my potential mentor. 2) If you were in my shoes, would you still get an independent attorney's opinion, knowing that your potential mentor's business partner was a RE attorney and investor with over 25 years of experience?

Thanks guys @Thomas Mitchell @Michael Jobe That is what I was leaning towards because if I put myself in my client's shoes I wouldn't want a realtor who was part time either.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, if you were in my shoes, starting out.