And someone jumping into this as a complete newbie can expect that they have a decent chance of making some expensive newbie mistakes.

You are rushing and that can lead to a first property mistake.

Last tax guy messed up a lot and I caught a lot of his mistakes.

You're facing a common investor challenge: learning from experience (and sometimes mistakes).

Only the first can be corrected, but us making a mistake and getting anything less than 5 star review is stricly unacceptable in my eyes and my team also has a strong sense of ownership in their position and loyalty to my company.   

@Mattin Hosh first, most cities in Metro Detroit have some type of rental property inspection every 2-3 years.It's not really a big deal 99% of the time - especially for owners who are NOT slumlords:)Also, a quick Google search will show that several states/cities are passing/considering similar legislation.One of the biggest mistakes we see newer investors making is NOT properly understanding Neighborhood/Property/Tenant Classes and naively assuming that any rental they buy will deliver Class A results.Read our copy & paste thoughts below and DM us if you'd like to dicuss more about the Detroit market:)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.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.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

The early-paying tenant owes you the rent; paying the seller was their mistake and theirs to resolve. 

Second biggest mistake is failing to realize these construction loans allow draws on improvements meaning cash expenditures are required before the first draw can be issued.

I know investing with family can possibly hurt relationships if things don't go well, so I don't want to make any big mistakes since this is a large amount of my parents inheritance. 

It has yet to happen for an RE related event but my last threat of being sued was last month (and unlike most suing threats, we had made some minor mistakes on this one).