like I said above I have invested with Praxis and I have met with Ivan as well.you may want to check in on what he has going as well.. both standup companies. 

Need to be sure you include the "unknown budget" and never take the optimistic approach as it is better to have money left at the end than writing more and more checks that were unplanned for.Again, if you can walk through an actual property and compare notes with someone that does it in your area (key factor), you will be way ahead of what a generic book can give you.

He was happy he was getting a good steady rent check and know his property was well taken care of, and I was happy I was able to Airbnb with less expenses than had we owned the place. 

I believe Airbnb and Vrbo dont do credit checks is this right?

You should check if the bank feeds work with your bank otherwise, it's a deal breaker unless you don't mind manually doing the data entry.

I was just about to get my credit card info for the course, when I thought to check BP forums.

Obviously this won't work for a  5 bed but if you are just getting 1-2 roomers  check the policy.

Double check any cap ex you might have coming in the next year or more there so you can plan to set that aside (boilers, roofs, etc).

A nice portfolio is 10-40 properties, and yes you should drive by your own assets to check for broken windows.

Alternatively, if you leave your paycheck in your checking account earning .01% interest, there is no real benefit.