I am fine living in it for the first year or two and have a current roommate that will rent from me for as long as we live there, so I am not too worried about negative cash flow in the first year.

I am now in the negatives as far as ROI with things like buying lists, paying for dialers, etc.

I've been taken advantage of financially of, 2 properties broken into, etc - being 2000 miles away is a huge negative. 

And while travel is going to be expensive for any property, if you only have one in a market, the concept is the same with less rent: that $2,000 flight/hotel/rental car food for a one night visit, ties up a lot more of your gross when that gross is much lower. 

I even took some of the concepts discussed in the book and applied it to how I manage my personal finances as well, incredibly helpful read!

The cost savings will be somewhat negated by what you will spend for their time. 

So far, I'm finding just as much positive as negative so I'd love chatting from a boots on the ground investor actually doing this who is not actively trying to sell something.  

This probably provides an adequate level of protection for Freddie.It’s a concept that is hard to swallow.

And for the record, banks handling HELOCs differently in different places doesn’t disprove the concept.

Just remember: most negative reviews are written by problematic tenants.