Landlord will promptly respond to Tenant request for repairs but will not be monetarily responsible for tenant disruptions or inconveniences during habitable times of repairs or tenant/guest injuries incurred in or around obvious areas of maintenance, repairs, or construction.We are more converned about them expecting us to pay for their losses rather than getting recouped for damages to our property. 

Rates were still extremely low, which made both properties extremely lucrative with cash flow.

Rentals boil down to how much do you net after paying principle, interest, taxes, insurance, and a maintenance reserve.  

The median home price is also very low nationwide which creates a low barrier to entry.

-------------------------------------------------------------------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?

Outside of that, do normal due diligence like appraisal and inspection and you're risk exposure is fairly low.

Start networking with other investors to increase your access to real estate deals.Put your house on the market yourself on Zillow and Facebook marketplace and see if you can sell it yourself as a seller finance deal on what is called a wrap mortgage; especially if you have a low interest.

Additionally, when underwriting deals, you need to account for the general idea that repairs and maintenance will be a larger percentage of your rent, the lower your rental is.  

Low appreciation may make the RoI from these assets low over long term, though they will cash flow on day 1.

Looking for something with low acquisition cost, and meets or exceeds the 1% rule.