I like it because mine are professional and I can be as personable as I want.

I'm doing that now, because my tenant neighbors haven't gotten back to me on several requests I've had to contact their owner, because I wanted to replace the fence and I don't know if it's mine or theirs.

I've been talking with a friend of mine who is in a great situation and wants to get into real estate...  

You could be sitting in a goldmine market of foreclosures that are great deals, and you just have to uncover them.

Also, I second @Aaron Christen's advice about the podcasts - they are gold!

All of mine are 3 BR, 2Bath ranging in price from $90k-$120k.I have typically tried to stay away from anything below the $100k as I'm concerned about the quality of tenants.David, sent you a request as like to hear more about what/where you are getting your properties.

ben -both interesting pointsbottom-line-no blood in the gameyou are opening yourself up for a lot of grief if you are going to trust someone with a handshake these days especially a build dealif I were you id look for something else besides this pot of gold under the rainbowresearch-research-researchyoull find all kinds of cases where the good guy got taken- that would be you my friendjust tryin to give you a heads upenjoy

NINE days this guy led me on, didn't respond or otherwise claimed that he didn't receive a wire matching the reference number and sender, just the amount but that he could not match the money to me so it wasn't mine.

As a member you are automatically bumped up to the Gold level paint discount level and they will send you special discounts as well.  

If you want to dig into it yourself checkout IRS Publication 527: Residential Rental Property. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p527.pdfA good CPA is worth more than their weight in gold on helping you figure out the best tax strategy for your situation.