I know that I have to rely heavily on a solid property management company to not only maintain but to help find me deals as our relationship grows.

Our primary residents also has some equity, I have a HELOC with $166,000 available funds.

If your firend wants to stay in the place AND has the funds/income to do so, they need to refinance in their name ASAP (as part of the process), not 5 yeas from now, not if they remarry, not 10years from now.   

Network with other local investors and always have a solid emergency fund.2.

With a single-family, you have one property, which means fewer moving parts.If you have the funds to scale, I would recommend moving toward single-family homes, but if you're just starting out, multifamily can be a smarter choice.

. - Inefficiency with payouts and administration will be compounded as the FAIR Plan has zero experience with a major pay out and lack infrastructure of assessors and technology to distribute the funds they don’t have.

It creates far more visibility into the company's operations, their investment decisions, etc.And lastly, you get to the overall ability of the sponsors.  

Hi Devin, yes my company does contracting work and we also work with the City of Birmingham on many projects..

Make sure to do your due diligence when selecting a property management company to hire.

First, it fast-tracks your learning as an investor - you are forced to develop better time management skills, build your network of reliable contractors/ handymen, etc..Second, when you are ready to transition to a property manager, you are well equipped to evaluate and hire the right company.3.