The "popularity" is just  a function of how many gurus are trying to make money selling you the "secrets".

This property has not been updated much at all so there are no visual signs of flooding and the seller said that it hasn't ever flooded ( his parents owned the property since 1970 but was built in 1965).

It make visualization much easier and seeing  success is so important.  

There's a function IRR in Excel that does this for you.  

I was already leaning to the side of just stashing the money away so it will serve either/or function, first as a down payment for your next property or money to pay major capital repairs or improvements.

I like the idea of college rentals as you just need them to be functional not nice (since they will get beat up a little each year) and that is what deposits are for.Definitely require a co-signer, normally it is the parent of the kid. 

That more or less serves a similar function as the estoppels except for that the tenants are not a part to that Addendum.

I am willing to go out of state...though I liked the thought of being a day's drive from a visual inspection.

Tried Buildium, but it referred me to different platforms, it did not look very convenient.I would like to make application process/  lease signing/rent payment easy for applicants and for me.Zillow is on the way to build all the functionality, but they are not there yet. 

It is functioning still but not like it should.