I did my homework, knew where I needed to be, and did not let the excitement and inexperience lead to paying too much.

Maybe this is my inexperience with settling issues talking, but are people noticing it on the outside, or on the inside, when they walk around?  

If I were you I would say you priced the unit according to the 2 year lease and (I don't have a good reason why you would not charge a security deposit but maybe just say inexperience if you need a reason).

Your inexperience and optimism could put their livelihood and investments at risk if you don't know what you're doing.I would like to know what BP members think of my unpopular observations here. 

So, as you might gather, it was a VERY bad deal for him because of his inexperience.

@Mike DymskiI've always interpreted the presence of posts concerning residential properties in the commercial, Multifamily and Apartment Investing Forum, to be an accidental occurrence - out of inexperience or ignorance - and not an "official" categorization.

I am very interested in getting into REI, thats why I'm here on BP in the first place, but with my inexperience I'm hesitant to invest remotely.

The guy with the money might see inexperience and hasty decision making that will lead to bad results.It's all perception.  

The mortgage payment, taxes, insurance, etc. would probably run me about $1,100-$1,250.Given my personal budget allows for $1,500/month in savings, anyway (plus a discretionary allowance I could tap into if needed), I feel like I could handle vacant months without feeling the squeeze.I would definitely use a property management service — the combination of my inexperience and my long work hours (often 70-90/week) means I am simply not the best candidate to manage property on a daily basis.I'm not looking for supplemental income out of this.

If the unit sits vacant for an extra month because of your inexperience in this area or worse you don't evaluate the correctly and it turns into a nightmare tenant situation, doesn't that justify the cost of having someone do it for you?