Some are recommending a 2.5-ton system, while others suggest a 3-ton unit.

The paperwork to get them setup almost always meant my first rent check from agency would be about 45 days after lease start, so you need to float that.Tenants always paid with Money Order or cash, both required an actual visit to bank versus standard check that could be mobile deposited or ACH.Neutral:My tenants were not "light" on the property, but generally not overly hard either.  

Honestly there are several career paths that will help (Renovation contractor, real estate agent, corporate RE analyst)  but depending upon whether you are looking for a career investing/flipping versus using your W-2 career income to build more by flipping, you can approach it better in my opinion by learning through doing.Flipping especially 1 at a time isn't a full time job and my thought is that you get help on your first, maybe first few flips. 

There is a team in my area that use a system like I mentioned.

Hey Corey -Three things I’d like to highlight are:1) Most lenders will have a leverage cap on doing a portfolio loan versus doing a single asset, so definitely ask the lender(s) that you’re speaking to about this. 2) Be mindful that a portfolio loan will save a decent chunk of change (thousands of dollars) on closing costs, so that can make it worth it. 3) Lenders will also have partial release clauses for paying off individual properties in the portfolio.

Is it best to pay for a service or maintenance agreement for my rental home Heating and Air Condition systems and/or heat pump? 

the only ones that make this work are LAWYERS and PRIVATE Detective type companies .. the only ONE"S making money on this are these guys just dusting off OLD material joining the modern SM craze to suck in newbies that think they found some new system  LOL.. 

You will need to search for off-market deals because they are the ones that aren't that desperate to sell versus the MLS where they want the money right away mostly due to buying another house immediately.

My average price point sale is about $1.3m on my own so it was a smarter move to make less overall money, but to have a lean system to operate and not manage and try to help agents anymore in that way.Hopping into every forum I post on to have a go at me is very embarrassing for you.

I’m currently working on developing systems for Sub2 lead gen.