There will always be problems that arise with rental properties, but having a regular income to dip into if needed is important.

And also engaged with institutional investors on a regular basis.I'm highly entrepreneurial and figured out that what I really want to do in my professional career is US multifamily investments.What I've done so far is selecting the markets I'm interested in (in TX), building a comprehensive financial model to analyze deals, and creating a very detailed due diligence list.

In this method, the buyer makes regular payments to the seller over a set period and then makes a large final payment (balloon payment) to complete the purchase 

Did you inspect the property regularly to prevent things from getting out of hand?

If you feel the need to verify the income exists, I guess bank statements could be requested in addition, BUT depending on the type of self employment payments aren't always regular.

What if you took each one of these properties and put on 50% leverage and bought an identical set of properties.  

Heck, my CPA and I regularly discuss and are forced to make our own assumptions on how the IRS may interpret something in our real estate taxes, if we were to get audited.

I think even regular CPAs are not fully aware of this!!

Create a referral program and then regularly market yourself to other agents.

My properties that I manage in San Antonio that do the best have unique design that you wouldn’t find a regular home to live in.