But as you said, it takes a quality renovation team, quality property management, and quality business partners.

A newer investor should focus on acquiring property's with high leverage so that they can reap the rewards of appreciation and equity.

If you have one high earner as a W-2 I would recommend the other switch to managing the Real Estate side of your wealth ASAP. 

We will quickly correct the excess spending, and fill the vacant units with quality residents.

I believe they are expressing their displeasure with the fact that I have not accommodated some of their recent requests that went far beyond the scope of what is required (like insisting a licensed electrician switch out a smoke detector when we could do it ourselves) and I had to set some boundaries after years of high maintenance for them.

By doing research we discovered that 1.0 acres was sold off in the 1960s and never caught by the assesment office, so the tax bills were too high for 40 years. 

@Adam OrtizRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

I haven't filed a claim all these years but insurance is for the what-if and to be used for the high-ticker items, but chances of damages exceeding the 5% is low.  

While opportunities still exist, I think they are still rare with interest rates and property values high.  

In most of those cases, their broker took a high fee and the investor didn't end up with a great deal.Here are a couple of things that are a tipoff you are not working with a broker with your interests at heart (1) they want to pull your credit before having a conversation, or (2) they send you a long list of things you need to provide them before learning about you and your deal.The conversation should start with why you are interested in REI, then understanding your strategy to get there.