For months, this was what we were following but of course when dealing with me I never make people wait so long and I pay as soon as I am able, as soon as the line item funds drop I usually send a wire or zell payment.

The biggest advantage of using someone local to where you're buying is that they will understand taxes, insurance, and similar items very well when it comes to DTI/DSCR calculations and payment quotes, and they will likely have a local network of service providers for ancillary services (survey, inspections, etc).

So I'm guessing thats the item. 

There are various other items that may come up such as: Proper firewall suppression, adequate entrances/exits for fire safety, stair safety, size of kitchen appliances, etc... for my specific example. 

Your biggest problems here are going to be how to properly qualify someone, what to do if someone stops paying, footing the bill if you have a big repair item, finding quality and reasonable vendors/contractors to fix things, and keeping track of payments.If this isn't you, give me some more context of where you're at and I can give some better insights. 

Hey everyone, I'm stationed at Offutt and my wife and I are looking to buy several small multifamily properties (2 to 4 units). I have already used my VA loan and my wife is not interested in househacking or moving to...

My CPA instructed me to list my repairs as CAPEX or repair items , furnishings were supplies for the rental. 

We typically estimate standard costs for these items but get them done much cheaper with our own crew.

Have a warehouse currently for a business I do(I order pallets of items and resell) but getting tight on space.

they look like they'll cash flow a few hundred dollars a month but then you have a rough tenant turnover, or a big capex item come up, and boom - your cash flow is gone for 5 or 10 years.here are two really good threads to read.Overleveraging, net worth, cash flow and headache factorBaltimore - a path to never-ending painhappy to help further.