I do yellow letters & bandit signs which I hand write "LOOKING 4 UNWANTED HOUSES"  or "WILL TRADE CASH FOR HOUSES"  I tried to stand out from "CASH 4 HOUSES & WE BUY HOUSES.  

Drive by once a month to make sure it hasnt burned to the ground and collect rents.

The main financing issues is that some unscrupulous individuals burned folks in the past with this ownership structure..  

Yes, you can probably reduce cost of sales and perhaps other numbers but you cannot significantly reduce rehab costs and there will always be surprises which will burn you if you do not have sufficient funds set aside. 

I had been burned by the tenant brought in by an agent.  

If your mortgage is $1,800 a month, on average you'll need to put $300 in your checking account ($1,800 - $1,500 above) to make your mortgage payment each month.Some months will be better, others worse... you can play games by not allocating for vacancies or CAPEX but they'll just burn you harder when they do hit.Also note, the 50% rule has Property Management baked into it... if you take on that 2nd job you can save 10% which would be the $300 negative this property appears to be.  

Don't burn out.2.

You could do some driving for dollars with your 300k see who wants out of the next roof replacement etc...a burned out older mom and pop LL would be ideal.

they like the idea that they can play their music loud and burn a fire in the fireplace without their neighbors calling the police. 

You all hear enough about SF from me, who else has been burning up the market with SF deals.......I love to hear about good commercial deals!