It may sound nice to pay a 5% management fee but the extra fees can add up to be more than the other company that charges 10% with no add-on fees.

If you want to grow aggressively then having the extra cash available to you today is more important.

If you have extra cash at the end of the month, then do double up payments on the mortgages so the principle is reduced and this will increase your heloc room.

While many in the real estate community would frown on locking more equity into a deal then required for me it gave me extra breathing room if the market flipped and my cashflow on this property was $920 per month. 

Are people paying for extra flood insurance or other insurance?

I can't imagine how much extra time is spent without having automation.

. $200K property needs to rent at 1.5% for a minimum of $3K per month. half of that will go back into property expenses. 

I paid him half and half went to the debt. 

Right now the portfolio is half rehabbed and half turnkey.

They had been paying those extra taxes for ~10 years since the last tax reassessment.