Hi Karim, Agreed with the others who have responded, very challenging to rent for cash flow in Northern VA.

I've also committed to the 90 Day Challenge as part of my learning process. 

I think your biggest challenge will be knowing too much and knowing everything that can go wrong.

After the super-bowl a few years ago, the city earmarked millions of dollars to improve streets, roads, bridges, and infrastructure. 

Perhaps I need to improve my identification process?

In other words, the purchase price of the house by the aunt, plus any improvements made over the years.

During the time you are working toward the 2 year mark concentrate on improving your credit score, living frugally to save every penny and developing relationships with other investors.Choose your friends and associates based on them having money and being interested in real estate investing.

And I'm hoping that as the economy there improves, the rents will go up, too.  

We did advice the police of the illegal entry so it's documented should this issue surface again at a future date.Thank you again for sharing...I'm really looking forward to adding value to this project and continuing to make improvements!

You as owner should be able to challenge that and if not happy about it, then at least have the option to terminate said agreement.