This could be a fine or a requirement for the tenant to pay for additional cleaning or repairs caused by smoking.

Agreed, we had one sell at auction recently that sold 10K over our credit bid, which was set at the BPO price from our realtor. 

I've witnessed decreased credit scores, rising credit balances, and stricter underwriter guidelines.

The scammer would have to be present at several court hearings over the course of a year or two in addition to filing the proper paperwork.

I've witnessed decreased credit scores, rising credit balances, and stricter underwriter guidelines.

Standard requirements for such investments typically include good credit, relevant experience, and a 20% down payment.

Scenario 1 = It looks like you have $950,000 cash to pay off the mortgage balance off.You are getting $70,000 additional cash-flow$70,000 / $950,000 = 7.3% which is not bad considering this is just cash-flow and you likely get an additional 4% appreciation bringing your total return to around 11%The thing to consider is that you would then lose the mortgage interest deduction.Without that deduction, it may put you into taxable income territory.You may want to consider seller financing some of the properties and see if you can get 8% to 10% interest.it would guarantee you a return and still get you nice interest over a period of time.As I get older, I want my investments to be more 'simpler'

It also stays off of your personal credit/DTI which will help you as you live your life outside of these properties.Those will be a specific set of lenders that you will want to look into as many of them have different requirements that you would have to adhere to, but overall much more of a simpler process than your conventional lenders, while being a couple of points higher in processing. 

I also have no credit I think my understanding of it is.

As others have suggested, you can simultaneously raise capital on behalf of other GP' and seek an inside look into their operation and gain additional experience this way.