If you are a buy and hold type you will find many opportunities available; perform your due diligence as many houses require more construction efforts or cosmetic improvement than others.Hope this helps.  

Be sure you have an ownership interest (land contract or contract for deed) instead of a leasehold interest (lease with option to buy) before you put a significant amount of your funds into improving the property.    

Real estate has improved considerably from its darkest period of 2008/09 and likewise so has the work contractors find.

Please tear this idea apart and let me know what can be improved.

They all have equity and all are considered fixer upper/opportunities to me where I can improve the value. 

Would it be an issue if I was self-performing a majority of the work myself?

Getting a property zoned for a higher and better use is a huge improvement, they may have 2k in a lot that sells for 30 or 40K.   

I have been researching and growing my knowledge in various aspects of real estate for the past 8-10 months, but no cash to perform.

I guess I figured I'm just learning, so any time I put in is important to help me improve, but that may not be the case in the future.Thanks!

It would speed up tenant repairs and he would be close enough when you thought he should improve the repair.