You'll need more cushion between your income and debt payments to account for everything else - taxes, insurance, food, living expenses, etc...

Quote from @Paul Zofsak: Russell, what's the advantage of filing on my insurance if the HOA is liable?  

As interest rates decrease cash on cash increases  both due to the fact finance charges are lower and as an indirect consequence you can often obtain higher leverage (meaning less cash invested) because the 1.2-1.25 debt coverage ratio most lenders seek as part of their underwriting takes into account interest payments.

I think we are competitively priced, so most of out tenants have been renewing, but we plan to test higher rents in 2025  for our larger apartment buildings to account for the steep increase in insurance prices.There have been A LOT of new apartment buildings put up recently in the Cedar Rapids metro area, so depending on the class of tenant you have, maybe that could account for some of softening you are seeing? 

Would having a highly insured property (1,000,000+ liablity) plus not being a negligent or slum landlord be sufficient and not require the use of an LLC? 

Second, there is sewer line insurance that the buyer can purchase (literally only a few dollars per month) which they can sign up for if/when the line fails, and if/when it needs replaced.  

I know that RTR positions themselves as “turnkey” but the reality is that they are more of a hybrid model - they set you up with everything you need and facilitate relationships with lenders, insurance, property managers, and so forth - but they are not the actual service providers.

Also, take a look at a condo if you really want to be in SB proper, it might be a way to get started, and calculate the insurance and maintenance that an HOA would pay

Should I cancel the LLC entirely and just rely on umbrella insurance?

Before you think you're getting in for zero down, have you asked what kind of cash reserves you have to have to qualify for the loan such as X number of months rent, and X number of months taxes, and what about insurance are they going to require you to buy one years of insurance or something.