If you have 6 properties and NONE of them are cash flowing for you, there is something wrong.... but it could be lots of factors.You seem to have a LOT of repairs...... the places are either severely neglected/have tons of deferred upkeep you inherited from the last owner and you didn't account for that when you decided to buy them as an investment....or these "renovations" were not really renovations...... or you are getting ripped off with unnecessary repairs at unreasonable prices.You either bought 6 POS properties where the numbers don't work or you didnt run them right, or you are getting ripped offWhen was the last time you actually saw these places in person?

Unnecessary in this case, but it keeps me from getting lost when I'm adding five ft inch measurements.

If you do enough research across markets you'll see that certain property features drive more revenue than "average" homes in those same areas (all else equal), so starting from scratch allows you to reverse engineer and "stack" all of those features while minimizing other costs/ unnecessary square footage. 2) I like the idea of building w/ commercial zoning and having the property valued based on cap rate instead of comps.

Without that, you’re going to introduce unnecessary delays that could cost you a deal. 

This would minimize the time the manager would have to spend on the property, and minimize unnecessary costs to the investor. 

Many businesses make their business by the unnecessary add ons.Eventually you will get a list of folks you can depend on to not cheat you, but it will take a while and be trial and error.  

Because inspectors are paid to find faults (Even it really isn't one) and many are so miscellaneous that they have nothing to do with the long term sustainability of the property.If you really want them fixed, we can arrange for our crew to do it and then you can pay extra for the unnecessary repairs.Fair enough?

Many investors seem to take the approach that a PM is just an unnecessary added expense that they can handle themselves, but I know from experience that a great PM will usually rent your property more often, for more money...not to mention take the daily management grind off the owner's plate...freeing them up to do more deals!  

Get rid of unnecessary expenses, cook meals instead of eating out, get rid of subscriptions you don't use, maybe try app streaming services instead of cable, drive a used car with little to no payment, etc.

In my mind, having two phones is simply unnecessary (and will probably keep you from growing as fast as you want).