A few days ago I visited an off market property in Austin in a well established neighborhood if interested feel free to connect. 

You find the house completely trashed with missing appliances and cabinets, tenants were cooking meth, windows broken, etc. 6-8 months of unpaid rent, unpaid utilities, thousands to empty the abandoned property and trash, $50,000 to completely renovate the property and make it rentable again, plus all the time, energy, and stress along the way.I would actually argue this is pretty common and not even the worst-case scenario. 

Since your friend covers utilities, this offsets some of your cost.

Now for my out-of-pocket expenses:Down payment: $7500 (Hard money loan 90% purchase price 100% rehab)Closing costs: $6500Inspection: $400Agent's commission: $5200 (didn't raise purchase price of house with seller concessions, so that money didn't apply to the commission sadly. won't make this mistake again)Holding costs: $1300 (one interest-only payment of $770, roughly $200 in utilities and $360 in insurance)Total: roughly 21 grand. 

More specific: He stole months of rent and utility payments from a tenant (and threatened to evict her!)

Remain responsible for rent, utilities, and other terms until a replacement tenant takes over.#2 can be a bad option in the middle of winter when renters are harder to find.

Rent out part of the space at least to help pay for mortgage and utilities.  

A connection of mine is well established within the energy realm in NH.

From time to time I will hear of people who utilize it well and gain business from it. 

So, I’ve developed a list of what financial intermediaries SHOULD and SHOULD NOT do in order to establish a viable, sustainable intermediary business1.