And be able to increase it to $200 after improvements and raising rents to market rates.  

Just that, between raising a family, career in military and everything in between left little time for anything else.Looking forward to this journey. 

Rather than waiting for tax refund and potentially losing this deal, I was just hoping to explore other avenues for raising the capital.

... meaning it looks like he may have given incentives like no deposit required to some tenants in order to raise the perceived value of the property.  

Great information yal Im born and raised in San Diego living in almost every area.

I would do my best to keep those tenants long term raise the rent every so often and be sure that the maintenance was done so I could count on this house being a considerable portion of my retirement.

But I think you still better off with areas that appreciate quicker as you can raise your rents to recoup some of the money that you need to pay for higher taxes.

The HOA was painful at times - one month after taking ownership they raised the dues a hefty amount.  

Raise capital :)

Jus to clarify, we bought a triplex and renovated it, raised the rents and raised the value.