We actually just figured that the problem that prevented her from making calls to the U.S. was her IP address.

If your current situation (noisy apartment causing unnecessary stress)/environment (unaffordable housing market) is not good, the only thing you can control is yourself.  

How did you prevent the negativity from the obstacles you faced from permeating into your other business ventures or relationships?

That is the reason they typically want 2 yrs of rental income to prevent someone pulling a couple of months of show and then are stuck w/ the mess. 

This will reduce the possibility that you get stuck with a troubled tenant that calls you for unnecessary items to fix or replace (i.e. a light bulb).

For my 4 properties, we cash flow about $3000/month that goes into a pot that we just grow and grow and use to buy other properties.  10% CAPEX, in our experience, is a bit much and frankly unnecessary.  

You really want the address of the person paying the taxes anyway.I start with a school districtThen recorded date 6+ years ago (Prevents new buyers with no equity)Owner Occupied = Yes (Unless I change the letter for an investors letter)Do not mail = Blank or NOFew other criteria I choose to get it down to where I want to mail (Can do street name = "name" OR "Name2")Be sure to include Mailing address, mailing ZIP, owner name, owner name 2, owner last name.

A lot of investors setup a new LLC for each flip which does offer flexibility, but also some unnecessary paperwork and fees.

There may be seasoning periods with the banks that will prevent you from refinancing, so you need to make sure that the rents can support the higher interest rate if you're taking out high interest loans.

Many responsibilities prevent me from doing that so I will have to do it from afar with visits strategically placed every so often.Specifically, I am looking at that data so that I can buy now, with the long term plan to move in about 5-7 yrs from now.