You can always start off by house hacking meaning you live in one UNIT or ROOM and renting out the other vacant units/rooms to offset your monthly mortgage payment.There are several ways to run and make sure you are maximizing your rental income while keeping your living expense as low as possible.

ALL of these issues can happen locally as well for sure, but if you learn locally the lessons are generally not as expensive. 

I get $750 for each, and again pay the water, so about $675 gross before other expenses.

So, if the market decided to pass on my property while 10,000 leases got signed I know that either my listing was not nice enough or it was too expensive compared to my competition. 

and have someleft over for repairs and expenses.

There are expenses from time to time, but the day to day is handled and covered by the rent I receive!

Until.. when I started to move on the deal… she backed out… ( she was not living in the property)I told myself ( earlier) that I wasn’t going win..at the expense of someone else who was less  fortunate.I sent to her a registered letter telling her that I “ forgave all debt and commitment” and that she didn’t owe me anything….

In today’s high rate market, 1% ratios do not cash flow at high LTV in most markets.   50% expense ratio $2550. 80% financed at 7% (OP indicated and does not include the plumbing) P&i $3,332/minth. $5100 - $2550 - $3332 = -$782/month after achieving market rent.  

(What are your other expenses?

I'd like to get into the multi-family space but will obviously need a larger amount of money to get a 20% down-payment for a more expensive property.