Good tenant screening, no matter which type of property you invest in can solve a lot of these issues, but typically "x tenant" is going to be attracted to "x house," and "y tenant" will be attracted to "y house." 

I toyed with the idea of doing a flat fee, but in the end i wanted local boots on the ground and it seemed easier to leave it with the previous REO agent.   

Running into issues made my neck hurt believe me but stay laser focused on your goal and understand that this is minor.

It will take months of savings to acquire significant furnds for a down payment, 20K on a 100k purchase on an after tax basis from savings will take at east 133 months or 11 years gaining 200 bucks gross a month.After seeing thousands of people over thier personal and business finance issues, I could count such savers on one hand, if most people get 150 bucks after tax monthly, the kids will usually get a new toy, if they don't the adults will or it mostly turns into disposable income in reality.Over that 11 years very little has gone to principal reduction, but there may be closing costs for a new loan. the equity should hit 15 to 20% even in slower markets if you buy decent properties.

All great advice above...I'm a big believer that if you can pay cash for your house (and cars and toys), you should.

I toy around with the idea of getting a NYS license, but I am really burned out from formal schooling. 

As far as temptation of spending this money on toys vs investing, if you have not already done so, consider reading "Rich Dad Poor Dad".

I've also been toying with the idea of house hacking 2 unused rooms in my house. 

This came at a perfect time because I have recently sold a few toys and have a little extra money liquid.

Also how laser focused they are on the type of assets they deal with.