A good manager will handle everything from marketing to maintenance and tenant screening, saving you time and stress.Vendors and LandscapingBuilding a team of dependable vendors—like landscaping companies, contractors, and insurance agents—is critical.

Quote from @Erick Pena: A "good" rental property is one that covers all expenses (mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, property management fees, and any other costs) and still leave a surplus (commonly referred to as cash flow).Calculate cash flow as: Cash Flow = Rental Income − Operating Expenses − DebtThere's much more to it, but that's the basic idea.

But it's still...whole life insurance.

There are opportunities out there but some strategies are risky. 1 - Airbnb (STR) comes to mind - very competitive, very saturated and becoming highly regulated.2 - Most STRs are transitioning to MTR so that market will be saturated soon if it isn't already.3 - Insurance crisis in florida is getting bad so those costs will eat up cashflow and short term appreciation.

While we don’t have state income tax here we do have the hurricane tax that comes with high insurance premiums and little real insurance benefits/help when it’s needed.

These programs offer options for less money down and in some cases DPA - Down payment assistance.As a banker for over 18+ years I am very skeptical when I hear a new name in the business only because its become tougher to lend with all of the new laws and credit/insurance requirements and regulations.  

If you are setting aside funds for capex, taxes, insurance, or other expenses that don't occur monthly, transfer those funds to Savings each month and hold them there until it's time to spend them.

My Insurance Agent has strongly recommended that I put a Construction Agreement in place with my Contractor to shield me from liability, etc. 

Insurance for sure wouldn’t cover you.Just a thought and I could be completely wrong!

The purpose of the post was to find another resource for property insurance (i.e., agent).