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.

(I own residential in Hoboken and developed commercial in Paulus Hook.)Development of Lower Manhattan commercial space and its increasing uptake by former midtown occupiers is drawing Upper West Side and Upper East Side residents to Hudson County and Brooklyn for family sized residential and improved commutes by ferry and PATH.

Constant communication allows us to improve our services, and amenities keeping residents satisfied.This is in addition to the possibility of saving over half of the people who consider renting at our communities when they read online reviews.Even for smaller apartment communities?

Here is my plan to improve my world, one house at a time:First, we had to clean up our debts/credit score (we used Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover).  

The investor at this time will have limited involvement, the only thing I can foresee is helping in the decision process on what to fix/improve/remodel. 

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