The replacement shelves were ordered individually, I was charged the initial inspection fee to tell me the shelves were missing, the cost of the shelves plus markup by the PM, and $67 an hour to "install" the shelves. 

It depends on where you want to live, income, personality, and other factors.You could buy a large home and rent out the individual rooms to cover expenses, but this comes with problems.

I think it depends on the individual and opportunity.

Early on, rents would remain market-aligned to ensure the portfolio generates the income needed to cover expenses, pay investors, and reinvest in expansion.

Even if it does, there's closing costs to consider.As I said, I have no cash myself, so I'm asking how I can deal with generating cash for closing costs (and a down payment) if it comes to it.The house costs $139000.

@Bob Asad I like the individual sub account method escrow account, but there are multiple different ways to hold security deposits and multiple laws in different states.

I manage a few smaller complexes and they are all on individual price schemes though they are usually within a few dollars of each other. 

New landlord question- if I have an individual who wants to rent my place for their parent - who do I have fill out the application?  

Is 10% ($1,750) per month in simple, taxable, spendable interest very attractive after owning real estate that likely did not generate that kind of cash flow? 

Specifically, I am looking at partnering with an individual who owns securities (stock and mutual funds) having them take out a line of credit against their portfolio (SBLOC) at a low interest rate, and using that to purchase properties rather than using a mortgage.