Good tenants do not typically apply for overpriced apartments.

The property cash flows at a 15% ROI…………………..before insurance, debt service, utilities, management, vacancies, repairs, maintenance, payroll and property taxes7.

Since your friend covers utilities, this offsets some of your cost.

You find the house completely trashed with missing appliances and cabinets, tenants were cooking meth, windows broken, etc. 6-8 months of unpaid rent, unpaid utilities, thousands to empty the abandoned property and trash, $50,000 to completely renovate the property and make it rentable again, plus all the time, energy, and stress along the way.I would actually argue this is pretty common and not even the worst-case scenario. 

Typical rehabs I'm looking at in TB are looking like 250-300 purchase with renovations costing around 40-60k.  

It was very difficult for us to find a bank to refinance the deal and also difficult for us to procure a buyer for the condos we didn't want.The cap rates typically traded higher than a simple ownership interest. 

Now for my out-of-pocket expenses:Down payment: $7500 (Hard money loan 90% purchase price 100% rehab)Closing costs: $6500Inspection: $400Agent's commission: $5200 (didn't raise purchase price of house with seller concessions, so that money didn't apply to the commission sadly. won't make this mistake again)Holding costs: $1300 (one interest-only payment of $770, roughly $200 in utilities and $360 in insurance)Total: roughly 21 grand. 

More specific: He stole months of rent and utility payments from a tenant (and threatened to evict her!)

They are the experts-thats why we pay them through our nose -more than 25 K -and he refuses to modify a mistake he made that was pointed to by the contractor As many have attested to in this thread (Architects included), typically Architects do not do plumbing drawings.

For most people, owning their own home and house hacking is typically the best way to get started building some equity, enjoying tax benefits, understanding real estate, and reducing their monthly housing expenses, but it really does vary by person and what they are trying to do.