We are able to get great incentives and the ability to own an investment property that take a very light maintenance budget for the first few years is a huge plus.  

Also be cautious for you partner certain activities do require a real estate license.

Common fees will include a set-up fee, a leasing fee for each turnover or a lease renewal fee, marking up maintenance, retaining late fees, and more.

Many insurance policies also require re-development within two years, a near impossible timeline in a region with the coastal commission, perhaps only second to Manhattan in terms of permitting and red tape.

I'm thinking apartments.com for marketing, leasing and maintenance requests.

Avoid deals in poor locations with high vacancy rates, overpriced properties, significant deferred maintenance, and unclear financials.

Tenants should certainly take responsibility for maintaining the property and promptly informing the landlord of any maintenance concerns.

We do around 70% of our snow removal with our in-house maintenance team which means we pay probably 15-20% of that..... if it takes 30 minutes to salt then we charge for 30 minutes of time. 

@David LewisRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Then you need to account for soft expenses like Vacancy/turnover, maintenance, and capital expenses.