These people can be relatives, friends, coworkers, friends of friends, and business associates.

,While no investment is completely passive, proper real estate investing should be relatively boring.You asked about the process and major considerations.

The 2nd person really liked the house and even mentioned how nice the rehab was, relative to comparables they have seen.

Suddenly everything bad that could happen to him began to happen, he was sick, the weather was bad, he had car trouble - any reason he could think of to not go into work.

I can relate brother. 

If that blue line would start falling relative to the orange one (County) you'd know that neighborhood desirability is slipping.

Here is a link to a recent allocation from Harvard's endowment: https://finance.harvard.edu/files/fad/files/fy23_hmc_letter....These allocations can help point out asset classes that are getting overheated versus those that are relative values, since the asset classes that are getting over-heated will start to show themselves in outsized allocations within your portfolio.

:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.

I still get sick thinking about it.  

I say this only to relate activity that sets off alarm bells, not to impugn what you are doing, which is better than 90% of what is hustled around these parts.