In both cases, the tenant should be educated on their responsibilities and held accountable.Even if the water source were a leaking pipe or roof, you should be able to identify the problem, dry it out, and remove the mold professionally within a few days and then the problem goes away.Simply accepting the tenant's claim - without verification - and allowing them to break the lease without penalty is a bad policy that will cost you much more in the long run.

Most have a high school education. 

Sharing my experience, in my opinion, can help educate other new and experienced investors considering similar investments with ABC Baltimore or having investment discussions with Maverick Investor Group and Hipster Investments.

By tapping into these resources, you can access a wealth of information without opening your wallet.Finally, don't underestimate the power of self-education.

I'm a numbers person with decent negotiating, project management, and administrative skills, and I was counting on those talents plus some education to be enough to get taken seriously.

@Karen Chenaille on more thing, most firms will provide an upfront analysis at no charge, so you can make the educated decision, if it makes sense to do or not.

Consider this the cost of Ivy League education -vet all your partners, investigate with more vigor on the property, have your own team to trust. 

One of your biggest challenges will be separating all the online fluff from reality.EXAMPLE: several S8 "gurus" have already been exposed as frauds, but unfortunately, they sucked in thousands of investors.You're an engineer, use your education & experience to start building up a logical approach to investing in rentals:)Start with this:Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.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.So, when investing in areas they don’t really know, investors should research the different property Class submarkets.

Than, it's a detailed conversation, often several, to help EDUCATE the seller of all the details to it, the "what-if's" and so on.     

EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!