We pay $55 per month for Wife and each cam was $220x4-There is also cloud recording(up to 10 cams) for $9 per month. 

Expect to keep paying.

I did not see marketing costs, nights that you need to spend at networking meetings paying for dinners or memberships.

Having owned property in rockford its not a great appreciation area so getting a HELOC will probably take 5-10 years based on loan pay down and maybe some slight appreciation.

You have to pay to live somewhere.

We just helped an investor buy a side-by-side duplex for $110k, pretty turn key with tenants in there paying $825 a side.

You have to pay depreciation recapture and gains on the pro-rated time it was a rental.

Montgomery Metropolitan Housing has a reputation of being difficult to work with and are slow to pay at times r so I have heard.One thing to keep in mind is that even with section 8, you still get to set your criteria that tenants need to qualify for your unit. 

We have taken over LOTS of occupied units with under paying tenants.

They’re “meaner” than me so they charge late fees (I get 1/2), file pay or quits, and increase rents faster and further than I would.