I didn't start out planning to become a landlord, it was just convenient due to a personal medical situation.After everything cleared up I formulated a plan to jump in to the industry so that I could retire early.

Investors Wanted To Believe though.....I saw people pay $50k Over the HOA judgments on that gamble......a nice surprise for the homeowner who hadn’t paid his mtg for 6 years......not so good for the buyers.

Otherwise you will be gambling. 

Bryan,Here are the 3 main options to consider:1) Custodial self-directed IRA, lower upfront cost but watch out for transaction and asset based fees, have to go through custodian for every transaction, might be inconvenient for certain investments. 2) Checkbook IRA (aka Checkbook IRA), eliminate transaction fees, higher upfront cost because of special purpose LLC, but long term will provide savings and most importantly a convenience of having checkbook control over your retirement assets. 3) Truly self-directed Solo 401k, requires self-employment activity or small business, the best option if you qualify.

For me anyone with a fico below 560 is probably a life long deadbeat, and anyone with no credit file, probably is also a dead beat, but they could have no credit for many reasons other than their lack of credit worthiness, so I assign 25 gamble points to the no credit renter and treat them as equivalent to a 585 fico.

Potentially thinking of house hacking near my job for the sake of convenience for investing and working!

You could allow them to drop their payments in the night deposit along with the proper deposit slips provided you trust them not to make mistakes on the deposit slips for which account and who they are making the deposit, however; if you want true 24-hour convenience to a few tenants, get them an employee, deposit only, card for the ATM. 

It's an excellent lifestyle...lots to do but it's convenient and still affordable. 

(and this is all even before taking into account all the returned letters you're dealing with currently sending out 500/mth) ; The convenience of sending a list to another company to handle all the outbound letters, far outweighs the extra added expense.

There is a cost of entry to obtain your license.....school, exam, licensing, hanging with a broker, MLS fees, lockbox key fees, Realtor association fees, etc.However, the benefits are vast for investors as you get real time access to mls, and access to properties at your convenience with your lockbox key.