The "cash for keys" method is to basically bribe the tenant to leave without the waiting period or formal eviction process.I used it successfully once for $300 per tenant in a house I just acquired, another time I was unsuccessful offering $2000 and had to go the route of a 60 day notice (required in my state if the tenant had lived there more than a year). 

@Tony Rodriguez Assuming you are talking about doing flips, not buy and hold (since you mentioned you would be listing properties for sale) I am not sure if it is going to make sense to go through the time and expense of a cash-out refi. 

Decide where you want to be in debt and in income and make your moves to go that way immediately.  

The customer then could either choose to fix things on their own, knowing the problem would be solved or pay me to fix things on the spot, and if you were good to go I would also let my customer know.

First step is to go to City Planning and have them look at it and give their opinion. 

So, a downturn doesn't necessarily mean less people needing to rent since there aren't enough rental units to go around in most places.In fact, real estate and the economy aren't on the same cycle.

Understanding the added expense is a key when working in an HPZ, lack of understanding could cause a good investment to go south.  

If your goal is long term hold and maximize cash flow then keeping it a duplex would be the way to go in my opinion.  

I don't see any reason to go out of state, when you can get a decent cash flowing property in-state.Thanks for sharing!!

Experienced RE investors purchasing RE that I could not make my desired profit but because of their greater experience in rehabs (own teams) they can rehab a lot cheaper than I can.