The garage and the fact that a long term tenant was in place paying market rent.

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

Our current mortgage terms include a late fee after 5 days, so they’re already paying extra each month and have to split the total monthly payment up between 2-3 payments when they get their pay check.

Roofstock will pay to have an inspection done by a third party that we have vetted or the buyer can hire their own inspector and pay for the inspection themselves.

We had success in summerlin with insurance company paying .. over a 24 month period we had 3 tenants   fair market rent at the time was about 2200 or so non furnished.. we got 4100.00I did not like the turnover so I put it up as furnished rental and got 3500 and its going into its second year with a superb tenant. so seems like a happy medium for us.. 

I would stay away from section 8, pull credit and background, and call referrals, and look at pay stubs for everyone who applies.

At a high LTV your leverage will be magnified.If your cash flow really is break even (I have my doubts) then with the magnification resulting from leverage, you could produce a fairly good return (ROI from leveraged appreciation, equity pay down, tax benefits).Good luck

If a tenant causes a claim, why should the landlord's insurance pay - possibly resulting in an increase in premium or even a cancellation of the policy?

My portfolio is not that large and it irked me to pay a bookkeeper so much and still have to do a lot of the work.

If your brother is looking to invest in real estate largely from a tax reduction standpoint they should pay a qualified real estate tax strategist to review their specific situation and what may or may not work for them.