And we bring the side fence to the front of the house so the sides are not exposed to the street all the other builders go cheap and put the fence to the back of the house and save the side yard fence run..

It's better to pay more, knowing you have something secured versus cheaping out and not even closing. 

Quick/cheap flights from Philadelphia, where my primary residence is.5.

So what many do is they try and do it on the cheap, and get death by thousand needles instead of making the investment.

Your 3% rate likely helps you with cheap debt and without the need to chase high that normal rental rates.

Definitely with study, makes no sense to cheap out.

These cheap arse customers who want to buy materials so they can get CC points are not going to do any of the above.

Part of my issue was not having a reasonably priced handyman ahead of time and eventually overpaying to just get it done and also inexperience as a manager.With that said, you essentially have two options: very cheap properties in less good areas (you're looking at 100k or less--which you might have trouble getting a good lender for)  or trying to do some sort of house hack (e.g. live in flip, live in rent by the room, multifamily) where you budget will be closer to 200k-300k.Personally, I would not look at real estate until you are maxing out your 401k and IRA, but lots of folks have done significantly better with real estate than stocks and would think I'm crazy for suggesting this.

That is a cheap pet fee and good cancellation. 

We have a tons of lots around here like the one you described, many of which can be bought for cheap and are not listed because there are just barely any buyers for such.