/area1 could be one of the pages that targets a specific audience.In general, you might want to start out simple and test the waters and optimize as you go.

Was making that (sub-optimal) decision a way to overcome hesitancy and fear?  

How do you guys optimize your operations?

A good turnkey rehabber knows where the money should go to optimize the rent as well as minimize future maintenance calls.  

House hacking sounds like the optimal idea.

Although there are two drawbacks. 1) you have to be cashflow positive with your (stable) job. 2) if you are a active investor optimizing and leveraging ever 5-15k of liquidity them it may not be the best strategy for you.

Scam, unless you want to pay someone large amounts of money for inspiring temporary optimism. 

If nothing else, it limits your exit strategies if you ever find you need to sell... another investor will not be interested if rent is well below market, and it would be a much harder sell to raise a tenant's rent by a huge chunk to catch up with market if you've gone many years with no increase.I just know that so far, what I've done (keeping rent level when I find good tenants) has worked for me.Probably the optimal strategy is somewhere in the middle...

@Elizabeth Wilson, unless you really understand Facebook optimization and how to place your pixels correctly, I would recommend outsourcing.  

I won't go into the gory details, but will only point you towards this illustration of the mechanics if eventual mortgage free living is a priority for you (it is not for many, but is for me personally):http://www.gocurrycracker.com/the-go-curry-cracker...As you can see, there are lots of little tricks you can use to optimize and whatever best suits your needs and goals is what you should use ...