This includes my willingness to do any kind of grunt work or seemingly small tasks for/with you.

No doubt there are areas of the city that still have a lot of room for growth, and in general the outlook for the region is really positive, but just saying things have heated up a lot that I would caution all investors new to the area to really tread carefully. 

I remember in one of the Rich Dad books, Robert explained the most growth comes from the tiniest stocks, and from when they have an IPO.

Hedge by being in one of the top 5 markets for job/population growth (away from tech industry I.e.

Now that you know the factors, you need to estimate them and factor them all in an IRR analysis ... google is your friend there as books can and have been written on the subject here on BP and elsewhere.Personally, my favorite thing to do is get into a nice neighborhood with great appreciation and rent growth that wouldn't normally cash flow, but force appreciation to make it cash flow for me early on and get an immediate equity bump. 

Breaking down the goal in this manner will give you smaller more manageable tasks to focus on and make the big goal more realistic and less intimidating.

Even if you do get growth in equity mortgage rates could be higher in two years and there may be little benefit in refinancing.

If you are looking to buy in a crazy expensive market, you might do well to sit on your hands and let your down payment grow. The

To do so with no background in it and in multiple cities would be a tall task.  

Is there a general rule of thumb as to who should take care of these kinds of basic maintenance tasks?