In addition you'll have to make the monthly interest only payments.

There is additional reserve requirements when buying more than 1 unit, so get up to speed on those so you are prepared to have those in place at the time of closing your loan. 

These are professionals with additional training and a stricter code of ethics.

I have my own construction company in addition to my real estate business so my situation is different than most as I have the entire scope of work completed by my own crews aside from a few items like plumbing that we sub out.Before that, I acted as the GC as owner builder and hired each individual sub.

basically Houston doesn't believe in general licenses. how to hire onehttps://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/03/1...as stated above try to find a bonded/insured contractor.managing your contractorshttps://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/04/1...additional tiphttps://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/05/1...paperwork to help make sure you don't get screwedhttps://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/04/0...Thoughts?

It's not in my current lease, but I will have several units open over the next month, so it's still an addition to my lease that I might want to add.

In addition the majority of the not so experienced are either out of state (OOS) or planning on going OOS.So I am not recommending against going to the San Diego BP social as much as 1) setting an expectation 2) suggesting you may want to go to a meetup maybe associated with an RE investor club.BTW there used to be a near monthly BP Meetup at various RE investment properties. 

Make sure that your travel records are in good shape.You will make a major mistake if you wait until after the initial interview to learn the rules.The hours you spend as an investor reading reports and otherwise monitoring operations does not count for material participation purposes UNLESS you are directly involved in day-to-day management or operations.The IRS has learned that taxpayers seldom study the rules until after the initial interview, meaning that poorly informed taxpayers admit much in the first interview and then pathetically try to change their stories after they learn the rules (this is usually too little, too late).Goal here is to educate you, not overwhelm you.

Regarding Condo Exterior repairs, it is also common for a major repair to require additional funds over the HOA dues, so a Special Assessment is often levied.   

You should ask the bank first if they can provide additional funding, but be prepared to explain what happened with documentation to support it.