Your principals are blinding you to a opportunity to build a valuable relationship that not everyone gets and one that most would sell their principals for in a heart beat.You won't go far unless you realise that business "principals" and personal "principals" are entirely different animals.

You could allow applicants to enter without supervision and this would be fine until you have that one person that causes a problem, like squatting, and then you will realise how reckless a decision it is to allow a stranger into a property worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars unsupervised.The reality is that if a owner does not want to do the work or is not interested in doing the work associated with operating their business it would be wise to either hire a responsible property management company or sell.As some have indicated there are simple and cost effective ways to do it but safe is not possible.

Hobby investors that depend entirely on profits from the tenant paying down a mortgage take a serious gamble due to not actually realising the value of equity, ongoing major expenses and market conditions at time of sale.

"I can easily pull $450k out today"And my point from the beginning Diane is until you do you do not realise any real gain, until then you have nothing beyond what you receive in positive cash flow.

Assuming you derive your monthly income from investing cash flow is necessary where as appreciation is simply a bonus for having invested in a smart income producing property.The strangest thing about most appreciation investors is that they usually never realise their gains since they are reluctant to ever sell and can not pull out cash due to the further negative impact on cash flow.

Id been in the restaurant business in cyprus for close to 10 years and realised i wasnt creating any kind of freedom for myself whether it be financial, time or emotional so i decided to get rid of it. i wasnt an easy decision it actually took me a few years to bulid the courage and take the step.

I didnt realise CMA's were used by brokers in the US very often.

All new investors must realise that when they decide to invest in real estate, or anything else, they always risk losing everything.

In addition, a refinance is really shuffling papers not realising return if it is my capital which makes the new loan.

It is essential that when choosing tenants for a B class property that you choose the very best and it is short sighted to not realise that low credit scores are a indication of some level of irresponsibility that will likely transfer to everything about their life style.Usually, not always, those with good scores do not live like pigs...it all translates to attitude which is what you are seeking with good tenants.....good attitudes, responsible individuals.