I am certainly not going to let Melanie live in fear but also know we need to walk a fine line here. 

If I receive a final quote from the roofers, I might decide to either look another contractor or start the project by myself.

I just wanted to add:The new Ordinance from City of Jackson Mississippi requires registration of all rental units, the payment of an annual fee of $50 per rental unit, annual inspection by the city, fixing any inspection issues, a fine for late or non compliance.And, it requires out of area owners to have a local PM or agent.I believe the fines can run to be high dollars.

When I lived in Los Angeles I self-managed my properties in Pennsylvania and did a fine job.

., first notice is a courtesy; second notice is an X dollar fine; third notice is another X dollar fine and a final warning; fourth notice is the start of the eviction process.Initiating the eviction process varies state by state, but maybe what they are doing does not rise to the level that the state deems eviction-worthy.

When I did serve her she showed up in court with legal aid suing me for being an unfair debt collector by charging over 5% of the rent.Landlords are deemed to be debt collectors under some state laws and this seems pretty reasonable as a fine if you ran afoul of those state laws. 

Purchasing real estate as investors is just like purchasing any other asset as a business owner and from a finance and accounting perspective it sits on your balance sheet until you pay money to convert all or a portion of it to another asset.

I am also a licensed agent with Re/Max Sunvest Realty.Property Management can be broken up into 2 different categories within the state. 1) You must be a licensed agent to do a non-management agreement with the owner, list a rental, show the home, create the lease for all parties and collect a leasing fee.2) You do not need a license to collect rents, handle repairs, pay bills and owners, and collect a monthly management fee.Please be careful, because there is a fine line between some of these duties and you don't want to risk your license.

"Nice suburb" is a fine description.

The lender will do a final hold back until the final permits and work is done and signed off.Again, I agree, it can be a great way to get started, but its a much longer process with many hoops.