This shows what type of tenant might be ideal for the space and if they are national, strong regional,or mom and pop in nature.What type of tenant determines structure and negotiation of the lease with tenant improvement credits,etc.I would not mess around with some cheap generic lease bought from Office Depot.

But I see the area shifting and I believe slowly it will improve.  

@Pratik P. thanks for your plan, definitely seems legit if you bring lots of leads, i think the one that deal with the leads can be VA , and if the calls are recorded its better for improving.  

Put some good food  in the middle of the living room floor , some candles , some mood music to set the tone .  

I made a lot of improvements to the home.

Review all his processes, systems and books (annual rent roles, expenses) to determine if you can increase occupancy (90->98%), improve the property rents (below market?)

As you mentioned some struggles with Quickbooks you could spend a few dollars for a bookkeeper/CPA (with real estate experience) to help get your numbers in order.After assessing the performance of each property, you should be able to then identify areas for improvement of cash flow for each investment.

I am considering a condo with the expectation that I'll make improvements where needed and begin to rent it after about 2 years.  

I'm not a tax expert or accountant, but I believe all expenses while the property is vacant/not rented are basically considered capital improvements and added to the cost basis of the house. 

We did not have any major capital improvements, pretty much everything done to the property was either a repair and or supplies, advertisements standard.