Don't forget the other necessities of section 8s like beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets.

We ended up renting out our first home out of necessity (the buyers loan fell through a week before closing and we needed into our new home for school district purposes), and it turned out to be great!  

@ Hillary Karaman yes I was planning to occupy the property out of necessity to qualify for the loan, but I'm open to other options if they're available.

This is why for the investor PM is SO critical... and you need that back up PM as well.. many turn key companies go into PM not because it makes money but out of necessity to keep client satisfaction up. 

It is good to have that on my list, although I would hope that the PM would have that as a necessity on the contract.

RE = hedge to inflation, debt becomes cheaper with older dollars.Cash = hedge to deflation, we can acquire more assets.Gold, which I love, because I'm an Austrian believer, really doesn't hold as much necessity now.The good news is, if you ever hear the mainstream media throwing the "D" word around, holy smokes things are really bad, or it's a smoke screen for something else.The even better news is that the American economic nightmare is deflation, because that would force them to actually default, or take up "Helicopter Ben" Bernanke on his last ditch effort of saving a Keynesian economy.

Is a necessity in this business or are there better routes to take??   

Could use BP, Craigslist, go to local REI meetings etc. money will likely move be process quicker but not necessity.

W/D are becoming more of a necessity and your building will be more valuable and desired in the future just by adding these hookups.

In my opinion a rental property software is nice but not a necessity for managing a small portfolio.