@Zach Howard some copy & paste advice below:)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

(Not a lawyer so this is not legal advice) You've listed all the reasons why people fire property managers, it sounds like they've just done a poor job of meeting your expectations. 

Not sure how important that is, but we put it into our spreadsheet… trying to learn and figure out our best move!

I figure REI is like most other things in life… hard work and persistence will get you there.

However, I just answered my own question right after I posted, so I really want to delete my post so when I look back in 5 years I won't hit myself in the head for not figuring it out before posting. :)

Now, you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them.

I expect this will draw more business to this area. 

So now your scrambling, going onto forums trying to figure out how to get it all back to the Nirvana it was.

@Kris Lou Be careful with agents as 95%+ of them really only know how to handle owner-occupied transactions.We don't do biz in Indianapolis, so this is unbiased info we hope you find useful:Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

The full 5 year proforma is free to give you a good look at what to expect on the deal.