There are thousands that wash out.

Plan on new sod when you go to sell, but I wouldn't waste my time spending thousands on a sprinkler system.  

Three hundred thousand is plenty for that.

On new construction, they are also shafting you on sales price: between the "in house" lender and associated "in house" appraiser that will hit value no matter how much you are over-paying, as well as the ridiculous costs for the "optional upgrades" that are needed just to make the home livable, and of course the builder "setting comps" to distort actual values as you identify (the first buyer of the first property built in a development that will be the first comp, is always a shell buyer LLC type thing owned by someone's cousin on paper, typically buying all-cash so there's no appraisal), so there's (at least in my area) literally tens of thousands of dollars on the table to throw around from all the buyers that are over-paying and over-financing.New construction is typically like walking onto the slimiest used car lot in the county.

The thought was why do I need to fix it up when the next one will just wreck it, and why spend 4 or 5 thousand for $100 more in rent.  

It'd be better to go with an accountant thousands of miles away who specializes in what you want to do rather than with one who's local and doesn't specialize in what you want to do.Also, with respect to house hacking, I see on your profile that you're currently interested in a duplex, but if you ever become open to a triplex or fourplex for the better cash flow, keep in mind the FHA self-sufficiency rule.  

The thought of locking away thousands of dollars each year that can not be removed/ used in RE with out penalty until i'm 59.5  years old does not sound appealing to me at all. 

There's no need to call a mold company who'll find some way to charge you thousands of dollars.

my father has been  a landlord for 20 years in detroit so i get to hear all about them since ive been around1 self employed people they  always fail to pay on time and leave dirt everywhere to be cleaned 2 those who turn into a life of crime and decide the unit is either a great place to distribute narcotics meth and other dangerous substances or worse they decide its a perfect place to produce drugs having the fbi lock down the unit and investigate my father this has happened 5 times now3 have had two units completely scrapped and i mean interiors gutted, copper pipes ripped heaters boilers even the shower and toilets stolen, these skin heads even tore threw the walls to steal all the electrical and hvac, needless to say they costed tens of thousands 4 one tenant decided it was a cool idea to pay for one month, then strip the entire location. once the tenant was evicted the house was burned to the ground. no charges were ever given .5 worst of all is when people die. once a drunk driver in a pickup truck drove right into the living room and killed not only himself but the tenants watching tv in the room, weve also had about 3 that i remember who we found laying dead from alcohol poisoning, the last one we payed to be sent and burried near his family  also we once had a witch doctor, this old lady disappeared after renting for a year. when we went inside the walls were covered in blood, there were rotting animals that had been cut open, candles and wax stuck all over the place. 

If they call without leaving their e-mails, call them back to get their e-mails, you will need this to give them address and direction for your open house venue.3) Fix your open house date for Saturday, to take place between 1 - 4 PM of you local time.It is very easy to use Facebook to market if you have thousands of friends who are professional or making good salaries, or send requests to them.