EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

Financially free always betas debt free, and taking on more "smart" debt is not only opposite of risky but actually the goal for the most seasonal investors.  

Takes 5 minutes.

Unfortunately many landlords take the first group they find in these situations and come from the ideology that all college students are slobs so no sense offering anything nice. 

But…When real estate literally takes less than 2 hours a month for me.

Only taking 4k home before taxes and working full time. 

You take the div to pay on margin %, your sub 6%. 

If you can sit on the sidelines and be choosy this requirement is fine, but you are going to have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find someone with that much cash on a wrap sale transaction...it may take 6+ months unless you advertise like a mad man3.

Q2 is most important: If the mortgaage is upside down, it would have to be an approved short sale and that could take a very long time to rectify.

It had better be a great deal to be worth dealing with all this headache and taking on this risk.