On a fixed mortgage, i could pay extra payments (or a one time lump sum payment) and apply it towards principal.

A property manager will charge you 20%, but there are other ways to do this.For a first time investor, you may just want to do LTR first so you have a consistent amount coming in and if it cash flows you can add to the principal or reserves. 

Key things to keep in mind with your numbers are:Rent should be > PITI (principal, interest, taxes, & insurance) + maintenance + vacancy + capex + property management fee. 

Remaining principle on the mortgage was paid by Flock at closing ( ~60K), so my shares at Flock represent the equity in the home that I’d accumulated from appreciation and principal repayment over the last 17 yrs.I like their approach/strategy.

Here is my take on it.I have 2 buckets.Clients I work with nationally that buy STNL and MTNL and I am the principal commercial broker as it's my firm and I work with them as the broker.Second bucket is I syndicate value add retail deals where I am the sponsor.1031 money unless buying directly needs to be DST or TIC model.

Depending on your loan structure I'm not even sure you could legally offer a personal guarantee outside of the loan for that money without committing mortgage fraud, as anything that could hinder the ability of the primary lender to recover their principal is supposed to be declared during their diligence period, and any material changes up to the point of taking the loan are supposed to be disclosed as well.

This allowed me to save over $1,200 per month on my payment and also increased my principal paydown by over $400 per payment compared to financing a new "high interest" loan! 

0 Chance.Cmon, pay for insurance or just don't own real estate.Trying to gain an extra 2-3% ROI and risk your entire principal is just stupid.Don't be cheap, get insurance.

i think it's because of the tremendous rise in home equity in the past 5 years.i used a HELOC to (1) help with a down payment on a short term loan, that I then paid back in full when I refinanced; and (2) to consolidate some higher interest debt, which I am now paying back by making extra payments against the principal since HELOCs are generally interest only for the first 5-10 years. 

Principal, interest, taxes and insurance. 280k with 20% down at 7% = about $1500 a month for PI.