Doesn't Germany suffer some economical problems as well and would it be cheap to do it now?

Many properties are cheap in detroit and it's tempting to buy them all like candy.

My clients from California are able to find deals with positive cashflow and meet the 1% rule at a cheap price point - $120k-$180k.

The fines/penalties are also not cheap either.

It's all great advice above, but I wanted to add a recommendation that I don't see as often: don't go cheap on your washer and dryer.Nobody wants to work 12+ hours and then go home and fight a tiny washer and a slow dryer.

I listened to too many people saying they don't raise rents on good tenants, including a few of my California friends who have kept the same rent for 10 years, their reasoning being I bought the property cheap in 2008.

While I support hiring a professional PM (not a cheap one), you verbally hired her and she is already doing work for you..If I were in your situation I would call her, explain the situation, apologize for walking back my agreement, compensate her for what she has done so far and hire a good PM.

***Only exception is if an owner has plan & funds to reposition Class D to Class C or higher.https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/776/topics/960183-what-they-dont-tell-you-about-cheap-rental-properties?

I have seen posts where investors seem to be having success with airBnb rentals and/or acquiring "akiya" or other extremely cheap properties. 

As for the land, with some looking around and a possible off market deal, with time I’m confident I could find an R2 lot for relatively cheap compared to the build.