New water heater, new stove, new fridge, numerous repairs, and a water leak emergency that I should have fixed on my own but went with a company who charged me $700 to fix something I could have done myself for basically free.Now, I probably have a bit of a crappy house with all the things that have gone wrong with it, but I also had super conservative estimates behind my CAPEX and maintenance.

You could also consider working at some kind of real estate brokerage or working for a real estate small business owner, that'll get you exposure to the real estate business and experience in the industry specifically.There's nothing wrong with, say, selling appliances retail, but I think your time would be better spent working for a small company and getting a ton of exposure to real estate.

If you are evaluating a duplex yourself, the ROI metrics are merely for your own edification...nothing wrong with that.

If you were ready to pay hundreds of  thousands of dollars to people that have never done it, for knowledge you'll never use, why wouldn't you spend far far less to someone that has done it successfully, and will teach you how to do it from experience.For those that insist on the cheap (spelled "free") method of education, because they think they get all that you need, they are wrong. 

Also, whats wrong with the G/D?

He knew he was in the wrong, but didn’t want to do anything about it to make the situation better.

There were a few quit claim deeds done wrong.

If you pick the right market, a manager just has to be trustworthy and good enough to fill units, repair things in a timely manner, and charge fair prices.In the wrong market any little discrepancy will kill your investment.

Otherwise, you're looking at the wrong map :)

Sometimes when things go wrong we just want to share experiences.