and if you're busy with your full time job it's even harder.

However, I feel like the revenue has been great even though we bought it “for them” it could be a great long term play by keeping it and having them live elsewhere.  

There is so much cost to running a (any) business, even changing a light bulb is expensive for a PM.

If you're living in an A area and cannot afford an A area property (hard to find anyway these days) and you need to drive a while to even get to an area you are interested in, door knocking is not for you.BUDGET: can you afford to do 1000 postcard mailings a month for 6 months straight?

The cash flow of $304/month is reasonable, but make sure to include a buffer for unexpected maintenance or repairs, even with a full gut rehab.

I was sent an offering memo by a broker selling a multi-family building in an area no reasonable person would even consider affordable housing material yet the marketing materials made a point of emphasis to detail how the property would satisfy the need for affordable housing.

At a minimum look for a deal that breaks even - although it's always better to cash flow and still have the shot at future appreciation.

The service providers RTR referred me to were happy to work with me even though I don’t have a US residence.

There’s almost zero chance someone is doing it on purpose unless they are running the water even while trying to sleep.

BiggerPockets also has a calculator to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.