My wife was having a ball, she almost pulled a muscle in her index finger, clicking that mouse, but with no rent coming in from this property and the credit cards approaching their limits, sweat began to appear unexpectantly on different parts of my shirt. 

It's the new "black"   Build "generational wealth and OPM" are running neck and neck.

:)Also, thank you to @Brie Schmidt for reading a noobie question, and pointing me towards some potential assistance.Finally, a big thanks to @Larry Smet - we are definitely not in the same neck-of-the-woods, but your comment IS helpful.  

I've worked as a court reporter, but work is very slow in my neck of the woods, so I've accepted a property management position with a small real estate company.

He comes highly regarded here on BP....Unrelated - we were just in your neck of the woods and fell in love with the Phoenix area :)

You will already be struggling to keep everything together your first couple deals, do you want to have the pressure of the bank, the market, struggles with the renovation, and then another person breathing down your neck to return their money?

I've always done things bass ackwards and figured it out once I'm neck deep, its just sort of the way I'm wired :).  

If you're ever in this neck of the woods, happy to get together too.

He drives a jacked up 4 wheel drive truck, chews tobacco, is big and burly, smells like diesel fuel, and has neck tats. 

Sacrifice the GI trips to Apple Bees and muscle cars.