I bugged my landlord to give me an option to buy as I wanted to do alot of improvements.

If you are at a limit with the banks and you do not want to take on additional investors such as a partner in each deal who has a 5% share of the transaction you can find property that is not able to be collateralized because  of poor condition and incomplete improvements so the seller has no choice ..or .. someone who wants a premium price and it will not appraise .  

I'm considering installing old-school hardwood floors and stairs ($65/ stair) to improve the durability and cleanliness of rentals.

What improvements did you make with the 20k?

I'm hoping to hold it after everything is done, so maybe that means just getting a bank refinance after the property has been improved and stabilized?

hi Leigh, i have looked the the previous deed and the transfer does have the right name. i am being cautious now that you told me if the name is wrong, the mortgage will still stand. in orange county Florida, you can only search via name and not parcel number, book , block etc. i think the records office here needs to be improved.

ANALYSIS -Gross Rental Income = $70,200Vacancy (10%) = $7,020CapEx (5%) = $3,510Management (9% of effective gross) = $5,687Taxes = $3,442Insurance = $2,848Repairs (6%) = $4,212Snow = $600Heat = $4,929Electric = $3,343Trash = $652Water/Sewer = $1,500Operating Expenses = $37,743Debt Service = $16,406Net Operating Income = $32,457Cash Flow (after debt service) = $16,051 or $1,338/moPurchase Price = $265,000Cap Rate (of purchase price) = 12.25% Cap Rate (of price + rehab) = 9.55%Total Cash Needed = $66,250 + $75,000 (rehab costs) = $141,250ROI = 11.36%Final analysis - While this property isn't the fantastic homerun deal you hoped, it is still a reasonably good investment assuming your rehab costs (which are just estimates) stay under $75,000 and you can come up with the cash out of pocket to perform all necessary improvements to the property over the next few years. 

I have a credit score over 700 and have improved on it since I filed. 

My very first sale of an improved property as a young agent in 75 was a commercial building in Calistoga sold for 25k LOL..

Improvement from 4/19 which is contractual cut off but they are working with title and escrow to go as fast as possible.