Don't eat out, bring your own lunch to work. 

This set back will eat up two years profit.

The ones who bought in good areas and used my contacts for handyman/repairs do great with cashflow+appreciation but some bought in rougher areas who try using 3rd party managers and the expenses eat into profits even just turnover costs are way under-estimated by most investors add in lower quality tenants and that 10%+ cashflow deal turns into 0%.

Now the landlord has to eat the cost of the attorney, it took a month or two longer, probably will raise rents, screen harder and ultimately the vast majority of good tenants get to pay the price.That's why I donate my time to the RPA Rental Property Association of Wisconsin, which is a local non-profit REIA and we lobby in Madison for sustainable landlord tenant laws - if you are a Wisconsin investor, please consider joining.

People need to eat and pay rent.

The Mayor has stated that they are eating up the already limited housing options for poor & low-middle class citizens in the city.2.

Curious - what are the biggest things eating into your profit?

I can't decide if I want to pursue a lawsuit for them to turn water back on (and possibly lose) or if I want to eat the money for several months and hope there's water below me.

ITs going to depend on a lot of factors but just jumping into STR "around the country" (i.e. potentially very far from yourself) is going to be challenging - property management fees are going to eat up a lot and its hard to cash flow as it is with current rates/prices.Most people would start with LTRs as its generally good for the "first investment" to be more of a learning experience and chalking up a lot of mistakes - so keeping $ amounts low, leverage conservative and the investment as "vanilla" as possible is generally good advice

First, the inflation would eat my lunch.