Jim you keep doing these post like this and NO ONE is going to buy rentals ever again LOLbut seriously I like that you balance out all the blue sky and bring reality to the equation.buying rentals is not a set it and forget investment no matter what.can be with really special A class to strong B class but no way with blue collar 800 to 1000 dollar tenants.. don't care where how or what.. they are all people. some are pigs some are clean and neat some in the middle and you can't tell with an application .I suspect if you took the time to go check out their automobile before you rented to them.. or did a sneak pop in on where they are living now before they move into yours you might catch the pigs before they move into your freshly rehabbed home.

The reality is that to achieve true positive cash flow it must be calculated based on 100% financing.

Never stop educating yourself.I have gone through the grind of the Real Estate Gurus and learned a lot of theory, reality had no resembles with the theory.So here is my advise.

But whether or not people like it, it is reality. 

Just because the landlord *thinks* its 70 in the unit, if the reality is colder, you are a plaintiff's attorney's dream.

That is not an alignment of goals.The $100 minimum means their base fee on your $1,200 is actually 8.33%.If your scheduled gross rent is $14,400 ($600/month x 2 x 12)Minimum PM fee -$1200 ($100 x 12)Re-lease inherited tenant -$395One-month vacancy -$100 PM fee (and -$600 from your gross revenue)Fee to lease new tenant -$395 (you didn't mention this, but I imagine they would charge at least as much as the re-lease)So right there you've got $2090 in PM fees on $13,800 gross = 15%Now over time those lease-up and vacancy management fees will even out as tenants stay longer than 1 year, but if you just wrote in 8% for management, you should almost 2x that to get to reality, at least in year 1. 

in reality, an agent can take a quick look, and send you pictures, if its not already pending by then, and you can get an inspector during the DD, to give a report, but getting a licensed contractor during your DD to give you estimated repairs needed, is not a simple call just for them to go over there..

I don't want to go to one that can do real estate, but in reality 90% of their time goes towards people with businesses. 

You should only leverage to the point where the investment can still create cashflowIn reality a property that can not produce positive cash flow with a hypothetical 100% financing can never produce positive cash flow without a abnormally high rent increase.

Crimeso with rents basically 700 to 900 these days.. that same renter IF they wanted to be a home owner is going to look at the highest price thing they can and will not buy in most of those areas.Even though you have say a 50k home if they bought it payment would be 250 to 300 they won't do it.. they will buy the 100 to 125k home and spend the 900.. they like anyone else does not want to live in those areas as homeowners. once these neighborhoods go rental that's it the value is only as good as the rent even though we can value SFRs using cap rates.. the reality is that's exactly how they are valued in those areas.