Bucket mouse traps and plank with bucket are easy to order on Amazon, as well as 100 sticky traps and snap traps that you monitor and keep away from your pets (they can be put inside a wooden box with a small opening where you see droppings).

. $20k is going to be repairs, a guy and a bucket, not a new roof (like Joel mentioned $100k minimum) What type of roof is it?

I would look to slowly invest your money into different buckets of asset classes.My mix is 50% Real Estate25% Bonds / Notes25% Stock MarketYou can pick whatever any ratio that you feel comfortable with.I think you should look to invest slowly into the market instead of putting all your money into investments now as you will be able to learn from your mistakes(if any).

Take your investments, wages, REI and put them into buckets.  

Regarding fees, there are three buckets of fees that investors should be aware of. 1) Upfront Fees - these include but are not limited to acquisition fees paid to the DST sponsor/syndicator, commissions paid to the broker/advisor representing the investor, and other marketing costs associated with packaging and marketing the DST investment 2) Operating Fees - property management fees, asset management fees, and fees paid to the master tenant 3) Disposition Fees - the brokerage fee paid to the sponsor when the property is sold. 

While it's easy to group a whole city into thought buckets ("good area" "bad area"), I like to take a more data intensive approach.

I have heard that owning 3 families puts you in a different bucket and is treated as a commercial building Should I stay away from them.

somehow I don't think SFR rentals are in his wish bucket..  

And, in addition, Landlords provide a bucket of salt for tenants. 

Get you a shovel, 5 gal. bucket and some Termidor off of Amazon.