18 years old, hungry, and ambitious, heavy passion for real estate investing. Live in Elizabeth NJ, willing to travel. (No RE license) Willing to get my hands dirty and quick on a computer. Working in a field related ...

The high dollar items add up and so does the labor if you hire the wrong people.

You'd be able to get a letter of environmental protection saying you did illegal work, got caught, then had to hire a professional to come in an clean up the mess. 

If you don't have the time to do things properly, then hiring a PM is a very smart move.

this would get you to 24-32 tenants.My thought would be to have each room with it's own bathroom, hire a cleaning service for common areas, and building out a shared deck for the four buildings and maybe a smaller building as a common area as well.Any flaws to this idea, assuming numbers work out?

@Karran GuptaHi there,I found the Jersey City departments very helpful and informative when I called.COVID messed up my plans so I didn’t go through with the permitting process yet.I would call them with short clear bullet point description of what you are doing.They will explain the steps to you.Then ask roughly how long a permit similar to yours is generally taking at the moment if there are no issues.I can tell you that they guarantee you an approval or denial within 20 business days from the time they put it into the system.The steps that lead up to that are few and somewhat reliant on your doing things right as much as Jersey City.You could also hire an expediter.

You will save way more money and time hiring a professional GC.

Sharing  some resources and responsibilities, the ability to care for another and our talents and gifts would be ideal. 

We did some remodeling in the vacant one (spent about 8K on floors, painting, new vanity in a bathroom, and redid kitchen that we hired out and my husband is a master electrician so he put in new switches and fixed any lighting issues and a couple other little things) and we put it at market rent.

Staff - Hire a PT employee to do a daily walk through, sweep units and help with renters who need onsite assistance7.