I did not receive any sleep that night and I had strongly felt that the new management had failed in its number one priority: to provide a secure living space for its residents which is protected under the implied duty of habitability.

Trusting the sponsor will be paramount to you sleeping at night, and I can't stress that enough.

Spent the better part of 3 years working on the house nights/weekends/days/mornings.

I know you mentioned you are buy and hold driven, but I would dive a little deeper into that. 

As someone starting out, I just wanted to get a take from more experienced rental property investors.I want to present you with two routes that a guy like me is considering to take: 1) save up capital generated from some sort of active income (a job or side hustle) and then get my feet wet by investing in a lower class, lower capital intensive area/property OR 2) find a willing partner with money they are willing to invest with me and use their cash as leverage for something like the down payment or any repairs that needs to be made.From my current perspective, Option 1 will take more time, but provides me a little more security in the sense that I'm not putting anyone else's money at risk nor am I diving into the deep end of a higher end market (in my case, Southern California).

I understand that the world of real estate is very much a people business, so I wanted to dive deeper into what kind of experiences people have had and what lessons they've learned, as opposed to the typical "get referrals" and "screen tenants" advice that typically gets spouted out.So, my question is more on the buying, selling, and negotiating side of things, and less about the tenants (since there are already many opinions about that out there).In regards to the people that you are generally going to be dealing with within your real estate investing circle, such as agents, lenders, contractors, handymen, managers, etc., what are some tips or advice do you guys have for working with so called "difficult" people?

Unless the place is a dive and the tenants are hostile you could lose by hesitating.

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but maybe someone could recommend or direct me to the correct forum for this (since I can't seem to find it), but I went to the MAREI meeting last night and found it quite interesting.

It has perfect location, not only commute wise but also it is close to restaurants and night life, it has covered garage, etc.

@Grant Cardone Can you dive in a little further on #2?