Adequate insurance will be more than sufficient to protect you provided you do not make the mistake or accumulating excess dead equity.

Often a DBA and partnership agreement is sufficient.  

That is required when you don't have a sufficient down payment.

If I want my terms I give them their price and vica versa but I’m coming up blank with an offer that works for me (longer term, low rate, sufficient cashflow (~$450), low cash outlay).

Also you can say the same thing about BP and everyone is talking about buying rentals.. its the herd mentality and when all these folks started buying in the deep trench after the GFC they expected the 2% rule or more that's where it was spawned.. now its 1% is acceptable and next thing you will know its .05%  etc etc.. the herd is alive and well in buying rental real estate in the US>. and I for one am happy to see it.. if the herd was not buying in many markets those markets would be flatt on their  @$$  and devolving but with all this out of state and out of country investment it saved many many cash flow markets from implosions.. since the organic market in the actual area IE local investors is not sufficient to buy all the homes that are there.. think about that one.. !!! 

I do have ambitions for the future to establish rentals and even begin flipping houses once I both learn the industry as well as have sufficient passive income to do this full time.  

@Ryshawn Cousar  When you say how do you go about it that presumes a lot of things not the least of which is the seller sufficiently motivated to do a subject to? 

Aren’t the $200* per month for cap ex and 10% I take out for repairs sufficient to cover those expenses?

Do you think the $1m for commercial property is sufficient?  

It is in the PM's interest to establish a sufficient density of managed properties in a given neighbourhood to support a routine check.