As far as #3, I've never thought about bludgeoning myself, but I have on occassion wanted to show a tenant what elbows do to teeth.

Carol, just type out what the deal is, otherwise we have to guess and pull teeth for the details.Sounds like a hospital wants to lease for employees, students or families visiting, it could be a very good deal.

At the risk of getting trolled for promoting my obvious self interest, I suggest that you start with a modest priced home in a lower middle class area, where you can cut your teeth on a smaller risk investment with less cash required  Using a HML (which my company is) will be a relatively small cost in dollars to your deal, while offering you the following benefits:Speed.  

That said, sometimes I feel like I'm pulling teeth to get my staff to take advantage of technology even when I'm setting it up and developing the policies around its use.

But if you are just getting started my recommendation is to cut your teeth locally. 

As easy as this sounds, it's not simple and usually like pulling teeth.

When we had to get a mortgage statement from the HML as part of the underwriting process on an entirely different loan it was like pulling teeth.

Note the teeth.

But, I really thought it was smart in our situation to cut our teeth with some of the renovations that weren't too big to handle. 

Do you know how many times it's been like pulling teeth to get a listing agent to show us the property?