Note that in parentheses I am stressing to ask the decision makers. 

Are they all in poor condition?  

I do not consider the order of the applications as part of the decision making process.

It took that man at least 2 years to convince me to get a PM for the rentals, and I have been pretty happy with the decision so far.

While i understand people tend to rent to people  they “like” it’s really not a good way to make a decision  .

I'm open to suggestions on beginner books to start on (just finished Rich Dad Poor Dad) and anything I can do to get started now (house hacking isn't an option for me).

In my case, there are major issues like roof replacement, siding, mold remediation, etc. and the house is vacant and in very poor shape, so there is no way any of these violations will be taken care by the seller.

It was a great decision, but I missed teaching so not long after getting my CPA license I applied to be an adjunct professor.

If it's a standard Lakewood up/down duplex it probably has a plaster ceiling under the ceiling tile-- at least all the ones I visited when my son was apartment hunting were plaster.IMO, the "nicest" fix (assuming the old plaster is in poor condition) is to scrape off the acoustic  tiles and then drywall over the old plaster with a smooth finish; the cheapest fix, if the only problem is the one tile you pictured, will be to screw up the tile(s) that is/are lose, cover the screw with a little joint compound and then primer and paint the ceiling; If you are lucky the tiles have already been painted before.

We know our own area well, and can almost always find deals that we'd like to pull the trigger on, but until we accumulate more cash, we can probably only purchase another $100-120k in property before we slow down and wait for our debt snowball to catch up (pay down the HELOC and eliminate the cheapest mortgage to open up standard financing options again).Here is the conundrum: Another local long term rental (or two) would be a great decision, BUT a beach house sounds like a lot more fun.Specifically, we are 2 hours away from Panama City Beach, and we are curious to get into a new type of real estate.