Keep your living affordable as your earnings increase.

Get the reno's done for anything less than 4800 increase the rent by 200 a month for the next guy and get going.Good luck!

Right now my home meets the 1% rule, but after refinancing it my payments would obviously increase as well as my current interest rate.

There's absolutely no reason to buy a $130-150k condo in a marginally better area, as the rents likely wont increase proportionally and there's essentially no difference in quality of tenants..   

This method I used allowed me to increase my rate of purchasing properties over that time frame.  

Any specific curb appeal pieces that can help increase the rent I receive?

I'd like to do some of the work myself to save money and increase profit if it makes sense to the investor to do it that way. 

Another idea is to execute an addendum to the LLC operating agreement to lower Marilyn's membership percentage in the LLC and increase my and my spouse's percentage so our funds can stay in the LLC.

And there is an increasing rental market as people get priced out of Midtown Detroit.I'll be sure to post an update as this deal progresses forward.

I have seen some in which taxes are going to increase as much as $5,000.