@David Zheng I'm the really boring guy who would say "run it for a year like it sits and see how it performs". 

In regard to institutional real estate investments, the advice of an expert who works in the industry every day, knows all the players and their track records, and performs due diligence on each offering is a great benefit to you and comes to you at no cost.

I've been performing and studying music at the college level since elementary school and I've gone as far as winning awards at the regional level.

Both are very difficult tasks, but lucky for you BiggerPockets has a lot of great information on how to screen property managers and how to screen your deals.

I am determined to get these properties performing SERIOUSLY this year!!

However, a recent lender I spoke with said that was not the case (for that lender), and that they would perform a market study for the units and loan on that.  

Materials aren't cheap. 15k for the whole job isn't an unusual rate in Boston, I am sure he is making a fair profit.I'd be careful firing him at this stage of the rebuild, especially if he's performed according to the contract you both signed.

This strategy is a great way to get a performing asset into your portfolio with no money down in the end, obviously it takes money to do a deal like this though.  

If you truly have the ability to perform, and this is a business for you, any agent working for you has a constant stream of income that you are providing.

For example, In 2021, I exchanged a lower performing rental from an "ok" area into a brand new property in a good area with good population growth and potential.