I was thinking this might be a way to reduce my maintenance exposure or recoup costs by creating a 2nd revenue stream with future tenants since none of the properties are large enough to justify coin operated machines.

You need capital for playing the real estate game.

Refrigerators and washing machines that are 20 years old keep on plugging away.

It's all a guessing game, but it is a fact that cash flow is good there.Avoid the smaller/heavily depressed towns like Shenandoah.

@Brie Schmidt, you are a machine :) Do you build those move-out charges into your lease or through another agreement your tenants sign?

A property manager who can educate you on a market, help you form a strategy, fit right into your due diligence process, and execute on a clear takeover game plan as soon as you hold title.There are many good investment properties with great cash flow even after all expenses are calcuated.

TK operations usually have a good lead generation machine going which is why you can still cash flow in the back end.If you have the time/connections to find really good discounted properties, rehab, and oversee that work, then i'd go for it.

He dug out the whole area much deeper, used real professional machines and laborers and it has been a dream ever since.

One of the things that I read was to get a real estate license to help with breaking into the investing game, which is one of the reasons why I did it.  

At some point, any investor will neet to have skin in the game.