Zara--this is quite necessary and in full compliance with Federal and State statutes. 

When a tenant violates even one term of the lease, you need to immediately send him a Notice To Quit which informs him of the violation and gives a cure period (set by state law) for him to stop/make it right/get in compliance - or eviction will begin. 

If your property's value has increased since you bought it... given the market trends in Albany, that's quite possible... you could tap into that equity sooner than you might think.

The "big" firms like AA may get a lot of hype but they generally can't compete on the next level tax strategies (Family office type strategies) nor customer service as their employee turnover is quite high.  

That can be a draw back if the market is on a mad run up tho.Also, I would always have enough in a heloc to cover your 401k loan in the event of job loss or if you quit your job. 

Being a realtor is tough, and there are quite a lot of unserious buyers that are just poking around.

I did a "blind" assessment where I paid/reimbursed a close family friend to go in as a guest because there were a lot of details I wasn't privy to- and wanted to understand (the whole experience and process from the guest perspective from the initial inquiry, emails, etc.).They shared the email communications (some of which was glitchy or not quite as good as what I'd expect, or told me of delays in receiving responses).

It is quite rural and it is much easier to get a permit for these sorts of things if you even need one.

There is quite a bit of data that home prices are starting to decline in many areas.

There is an abnormally low amount of new construction occurring on the coast in comparison to the demand and the existing inventory can be quite dated, especially for those coming from areas like California.