Put the safety pin back in that prevents accidental discharge. 

@Robert Collins you may be missing a digit in your property taxes they aren't going to be $120 per year. 

Most REIs shoot for double digits.  

Your safety net comes from your established reserves for each property... many investors do 3 months (banks like that number), while others have whatever number works with their business plan.

Equally, or perhaps, even more importantly, going the extra mile on the renovation scope is a safety play for me and my investors in case of a down-turn because if there is a flight to quality, we will be holding the quality that very likely no one else has in our sub-markets and price-point.

The majority of investors that I lend to are part time, whether they flip or hold, some doing as many as double digit property purchases (or flips) a year.

"ALL the plaster has to be stripped, ALL the subfloor must go, the blower motor on the furnace can't be replaced for $250, the whole furnace has to be replaced for $6K, we can't use a mix of select and common-grade hardwood flooring, it all has to be select, even in the closets and the middle of a Western PA living room floor that's going to be covered by rugs 4 seasons of the year...OF COURSE we have to have ALL the brick professionally repointed in the renovation, it's a SAFETY HAZARD the way it is!" 

I have no choice but to fix the structural and plumbing issues or there will be other safety issues if I don’t.

Both, in terms of investment returns and safety we should focus on strong value add.

Now with the states making harder with license requirements, hassles of filing foreclosure in judicial states, stipulations on contacting borrowers, statue of limitations since last payment or maturity of the notes, I am much happier doing the business loans to landlords, and working on investor relations for 16 geriatric behavioral health hospitals, and lender relations for a company buying pools of low balance consumer notes in the single digit range and bringing them lenders who also want to clip coupons and not deal with all the hassles of mortgage notes.