Being cheap about repairs leaves you with unhappy tenants who will not take good care of the property because you don't.Send a licensed plumber ASAP.

Overall, my plan is to get as much equity as I can in this market to then invest in more real estate, then optimize in the end for cash flow.Some background info on me: My wife and I are both 24 years old, each of us make a good living for this area and are fine saving money and living in an apartment with cheap rent at the moment.

And they're cheap or nearly free.  

Protecting yourself from any future issues will require a good understanding of the situation your house is in when you buy it.Tl;dr: crime here is relatively low, declining population numbers don't take students into account, properties are cheap, rents are high BUT be careful where you buy.This concludes my TED Talk, ha!

Anything decorative go as cheap as possible. 

Keep your cheap debt.  

.#8 I would consider your inspection cost a very cheap crash course in buying long distance investment properties. 

If you are a wine drinker like me it's been great - I remember how bad all cheap wine used to be - but I can see a big difference in the popularity from 20 years ago.  2 buck chuck !!! 

And investing in cheap homes is absolutely fool's gold. 

Got for pretty cheap and cashflows with no problems.