have 8 months under my belt so far and have endured as much or more "setbacks" as I've ever seen in all my years of land-lording (lots of appliance, A/C, idiot guests that demand refunds due to crumbs in the toaster [no joke], and the dreaded HOA Special Assessment.

I'm still in the research phase of my real estate investing but, one thing I know is that I want to be an investor, not a land lord, so I would be using a property management company. 

@Jake Stuttgen I would first read over the HOA agreement and connect with @Brad Schaeppi and discuss your particular concerns.  

Cheers,Brad

I'd speak with other land-lords on the prospective block or even get in touch with PM in the area to confirm those numbers.

We have supported as lender when folks purchased for $17,000 and sold for $30,000 same day.The flipping, land lording might need some cash of your own; even though you can get lender involved for portion of it.There are other tweaks and variations on real estate; which you can explore as well.See what works best for your situation and change as you grow.

repair requests, no rent, late rent, damages, etc, all are common, but a worn out land lord may be tired of them and want to sell.

Brad- They are right....

As one of his students, my uncle recommended we attend Brad Sumrok's "Rat-Race to Retirement" seminar in Dallas.

The Lord sent me a hard money lender who said something that through a wrench in my understanding of how this works.