Next, plan on inspecting your properties every 90 days; you can communicate this to the tenant as you ensuring the property is in good order and to help you plan for repairs/future improvements. 

There are never full photos of the mechanicals and basement and roof line so you will never have even a bare inkling of what the potential repairs will be.

PMC staff are good at maintenance and maybe repairs, but they are NOT licensed contractors with years of real-world experience.

Mine was also out of state, in a town I’d never visited, and I relied heavily on videos from my agent.This sounds like a tough first deal, but it seems like you have some capital on the side, which will be useful as you face the upcoming challenges and learn from those expensive early mistakes.Regarding the subject of this post, “help me adjust my expectations,” I’d recommend assuming that; repairs will cost twice as much as you estimate, maintenance and vacancy rates will likely double from your initial projections, there’s a very real chance you may lose money on this deal.That said, there are ways to mitigate these risks by:- Keep asking questions here on BP and connecting with local experts- Stay proactive and communicative with your agent and property manager.And remember “Inspect what you expect.”Im not trying to discourage you but to help reset your expectations.

Given that and some other characteristics, from what I'm told it would be in demand as far as rental applicants.Ideally, I would like the option to return to it.With repair estimate of 1% of purchase price and property management fees, it's pretty much a break even on the monthly overhead.

My duplex - built 1989, 2,060 sf, 2 bed/bath, 1 year old roof, value if I subdivide (county already approved) and sell each separately $150k each ($300k total)Investor duplex - built 1995, 2,300 sf, 2 bed/bath, 5 year old roof, value around $310kThe investors initial request was for an equal trade and they would pay realtor fees, which I replied wouldn't be equal due to buying/selling costs (recording fees, title insurance, closing fee, survey, inspections, loan fees, 1031 fees, accountant fees, repairs), taxes would increase due to new sale price, I'd trade a 3.75% mortgage for a higher one, and I'm on the 10th year of a 30 year loan so resetting that to a new loan would restart amortization and pay more towards interest.

Quote from @Basit Siddiqi: I personally would not buy real estate with a retirement account.There are just too many headaches that are not worth the potential increased return.Some headaches when it comes to investing in real estate with a retirement account1) LTV values are less and harder to find lenders.2) Potential to sell or partially distibute the property if you have to do a RMD(Required Minimum Distribution)3) If you run out of cash and have to make a major repair, you may be out of luck and have to sell.4) Having to potentially worry about UBTI(Unrelated Business Taxable Income)I would personally invest in stocks/bonds/notes with a retirement account.I buy deals with cash and use a ROTH SDIRA so there are no RMD's.I buy at huge discounts to retail.

In real estate its messy and there are always repairs and capX projects that seemingly pop up from time to time.

The key is ensuring the after-repair value (ARV) supports refinancing to pay off the initial funding without overextending.Fix-and-flip - This requires sharp numbers and market knowledge.

Just because a technique for acquiring or earning money is popularized by gurus and practiced unethically by the gurus students does not mean that the technique itself is a scam, unethical, immoral, or that the participants aren’t honest.