Over the past two years, I've been working two jobs and channeling all my income into my Roth IRA and savings account.

Hey Mike we are officially up and running!

All the transacting of the money is done by lawyers or title agents because documents need to be filed and recorded and made official. 

As for noise from up-stairs, I would probably try installing new ceilings over the existing ones using something like resilient channel but this really isn't easy while occupied. https://www.clarkdietrich.com/products/resilient-channel-sys...

There is obviously a formal lease, and we also supplement with a room mate agreement which outlines the more specific things like overnight guests and expectations in dispute resolutions/ cleaning/ care for the home and appliances, etc.I haven't received one formal "LL request" email yet, other than a formal 30 day notice in the event of a move out, which is usually after they've come talked to me in person about it to begin with. if there's an issue, it tends to be pretty limited to "hey, we have this shower rod falling off"... which im usually here to deal with (and tbh most of the time they like to fix it up with me), and it doesnt need to turn into a big thing. as for keys, i have the house on a yale smart lock, so 'handing over keys' is just official move out, walkthrough of the room for damages, and then I can delete their access code and access to the smart home systems without having to re-key the house. 

I have not received any official notification from anyone, yet and the tenant is non-communicative.

I haven't officially joined the NCREIA yet but I am going to a real estate investing workshop later this month in Durham so hoping to connect with a lot of people that weekend and will probably officially join and start going to more events. 

I've set up a collaboration channel for participants and am beta testing a weekly drop-in conference call series.

I'd suggest starting by setting up a dedicated channel for your preferred mode of communication and letting your residents know about it.

After a screening to determine my official eligibility, I was asked how much I needed.