I think a homeowner can generally do fine with just a real estate agent but I'd agree when homeowners try to FSBO it rarely goes well. 

So I paid a tax pro to do my return, first year was fine, this year she took my money and ghosted me.

He eventually got too much pressure and fines from the County and did take care of it.

If you really want to fine-tune it, you need an agent with MLS access to run the on-market rentals which are a fair representation of what you can expect.

We have some HML’s that are fine with us recording the GAP funders 2nd position DOT/mortgage.

For example, the unemployment rate, relatively low, is 6.5% versus MA's 3.5%It's been a long time since I was more familiar with Springfield, so I'm not sure about the impact of the casino.In general, similar to other working class cities like Fitchburg, in Springfield I'd imagine you'd fine the following conditions:- Attractive Cap rates- Medium vacancy- You're paying a realtor or property management company to find tenants (in higher end cities the tenants pay the realtor fee)- Section 8 tenants -- could be a negative or positive, depending on your view.

Fines can be pretty high.Recommend you discuss with some sources to see how likely it is you face a violation ticket.The good news is that without an SSN, they are probably worried about anything that would involve the government.Of course, they could also steal everything from the property, trash it and disappear and you'd have no legal recourse.

Its priced well, needs work(which is fine) but wondering if anyone has had any experience buying, living, or managing any rentals in this area or near it?

Depending on the demographics of the area, I've found that Home Depot/Lowes is fine for just about anything going in a regular rental.One must consider return on investment and buying fancy custom cabinets won't yield much if any more rent that box store shaker cabinets, especially in a duplex.Get some decent cabinets and a good countertop and you should be good to go.

We do not have an HOA so that will check out fine.