Yes, but real estate is an extremely cash intensive business.

When the OP first appeared, I almost wanted to say why are you trying to offload the easy part - collecting that rent check - and do the hardest part, weeding out the riff-raff of the tenant pool.The thing about the good quality tenants is that they tend to be less management-intensive, meaning that if something small is wrong you'll be told or they sometimes just have it taken care of themselves.

The stench in the house is truly intense.

Most concepts translate well to my individual investing adventure.I do think that those starting out who can work in a field that is numbers intensive will find it beneficial to their REI.

This is to compensate for the "aggravation" factor,management intensity and probable lack of appreciation associated with the lower end areas. 30% ROI on gross rental that you mention often relates to at best 15% net.

If you do it yourself, it's going to be very labor intensive and you likely won't get reimbursed for the cost of your labor. 

I would suggest you keep doing what you are doing as intensively as possible to build up your assets (looks like you are on to a good thing), while not rushing into anything regarding placing your hard earned savings.

This is less capital and time intensive and might suit your needs perfectly for your first couple deals. 

The business partner who did the majority of the work is a carpenter by trade, but also did the electrical and plumbing which wasn't too intensive for this project.

I would think lower class higher % as in my experience those tend to be more labor/time intensive but maybe I am looking at it backwards?