Focusing solely on numbers often leads to the purchase of low-quality properties.

Hi Art,  No, we've just recently closed on a beach rental and I'm about to close on another this month. 

The house had a warranty the first year that covered anything that came up, and we only had one issue with HVAC over those 3 years. 

It's called a payoff statementif it's a big lender you will not buy the loan as it will take forever, you are better just paying it off. you then can foreclose based on the total balance owed to you which is both loans and any accrued interest. regarding fixing property or selling as is, that really depends and needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis 

I appreciate your insight on these forums, thanks in advance! 

Focusing on A-B areas and taking a hands-on approach definitely helps with maximizing cash flow and equity.

@Stephen Totter, thanks for jumping on and conveying your experience!

A PMC is the ONLY one that will deal daily with your property.Here's some copy & paste advice on hwo to screen PMCs:Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

I'll thank you on their behalf.

Be careful following the advice of strangers on the information superhighway.