Glad to hear it worked out for you @Shawn FarisOne more piece of advice: when a tenant pays late rent, do not accept checks.

We went under contract on our first investment property (had never even bought a personal residence yet) just a couple weeks later. 

My inability to understand the time it would take doing it myself at the pace I was moving the project forward set me back a few weeks at best; slowing down the turnover and listing it later than I expected. 

Good luck finding a SFH or condo/townhome that cash flows at all right now - though maybe better luck later this year when you're ready to buy. 

However, if you get financing in your name you may not be able to contribute the property into an LLC later (you'll need your lenders permission).And in a 1031 exchange the taxpayer needs to stay the same between the old property and the new property. 

In short, I'll never do it again unless the relationship began as a business relationship that later evolved into a friendship and even then I'd be very selective.In my experience, over time, lines got blurred and our relationship evolved to a point where every conversation mentioned the business in some capacity.

Best to add a risk contingency and be wrong later than assume you don’t need one.

For problem renters (late rent, noise, lease violations, etc.) you should inspect more often, maybe every three months.I would give the bad tenant a notice of inspection within 24 hours.

You could refinance at less leverage, which should lower your rate and lower your total loan amount which would, in turn, lower your monthly payment and cash flow a little better.Question just becomes a 'cash now vs. cash later' situation.

And, according to their book, if you want to later evict them, having them prepay that much can make it difficult to do so.