My concern with declining values, increased inventory and a weaker economy would lower rental income and could potentially put me into a negative cash flow situation.

no one killed that we know of so far but several injuries and a few neighborhoods hit pretty badly. 

Section 8 would tend to carry higher repair and as a result, additional vacancy.OP’s definition of cash flow is rent minus piti.  

Not likely), vacancy (@ 8% for me), and a possible PM (10% normally).I recommend you reach out to a local seasoned investor and have them run your #s with you, as the #s depend on how you manage it (how hands on you are) and also local pricing.

No one's perfect and honest mistakes happen and a PMC often needs guidance as to what level an owners wants to maintain their property.Wasn't trying to solicit your business,so I'll respond via DM about the rest of your questions:)

The fear of renting while out of town is common, but it's easy to overcome, especially when you have friends and a handyman.

Low inventory, higher rates and a LOT more investor competition have made it quite a bit harder.

*There was 10.1% more listing inventory in the metro and a whopping 30.5% more active listings on the market in the City of Austin.

What I have are the rents of the 3 tenant occupied units, the owner supplied projected rents for the other two units and a hokey formula on parsing out utilities for the units that are not separately metered. 

That makes a real difference.Initially we had one originator, one part-time processor, and a part-time admin assistant.