I assume it's not good if my cash flow is negative. 

One of my biggest investing regrets earlier on was because I didn't have a good understanding of investment property financing.Like a lot of people have posted, HOAs are generally seen as a negative.

Negative.

To do it right, you can't rationalize negative cash flow (yes, if you are covering any of the other tenant's rent, then it is a negative CF) by saying you are living upstairs for less (or free). 

I am no real estate agent and very green as a whole to RE but the fact is the license is cheap and relatively easy to get. someones friend gets one and they get jealous and get one too because they think they are smarter than said friend. both friends are probably lazy and close the national average or less every year until their parents force them to pay rent at the age of 40. not trying to be a negative nancy but the fact remains they get hammered by calls of people who " think" they want to buy a house and never pull the trigger.. i get it its frustrating but if you treat everyone the same then how will you ever succeed. i rather work my *** off for nothing and go to sleep proud that i tried my very best then go at everything with the least amount of effort possible until i hook a whale and brag to everyone about how successful i am. 

Sometimes previous landlords get afraid to say anything negative about former tenants.

When I inquired, I was told it will be paid for later, then explained it only adds time for the borrower to pay back, but an early payoff negates me collected in deferred payments.

Andrew, if your lender did a hard credit pull then it will negatively affect your credit score.   

If you're going to have a negative cash flow though I'd stay away from renting it out.

The only negative is that when you get the really big groups they can be more destructive.