When contacting a potential tenant's previous landlord, consider asking about the tenant's payment history, whether they consistently paid rent on time, how they maintained the property, if there were any complaints from neighbors, and the reason for leaving.

Don't settle for properties that merely break even; aim for those that generate consistent income from the start.

.#4 Higher Appreciation Potential:Single-family homes tend to appreciate more consistently and at a higher rate than small multifamily properties over time.

If you take care of these items consistently you don't have much to worry about & will save time and money better spent being refocused on your real estate business. 

While it's concerning that the applicants are unemployed, housing vouchers ensure that their rent is covered, which can provide you with consistent payments.

We have a couple renting a house in Minnesota who is consistently behind on paying rent but they end up paying the full rent within the month, staying just out of reach of agreement termination.

Multifamily properties are a fantastic way to start, especially for building a solid portfolio and generating consistent cash flow.Madison and Milwaukee are great places to look at - they have very robust rental markets and economic stability.

Ultimately it's important to be accurate, consistent, and in a controlled pace in executing a task. 

Those who are most successful buying SFH's buy in markets that experience a sudden  appreciation event/spike in home ownership  creating an end buyer market that no longer consists primarily of investors.

For instance, with how we set up our bridge product, we convert the house that you will be selling (your old home) into an investment property and payoff the existing mortgage with a bridge loan refi that has a 6 month term and monthly payments that consist of only tax and insurance escrow.