The reality is that one bad tenant can eat up that entire year of "extra" money and actually put you in a hole.

I like Texas as an investment, but don't know anything specifically about Plano.Dave Meyer has some good information about markets to invest in: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...I recommend you read "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene.

May be I am starting to persuade myself to negotiate and move on vs eating the hard money mortgage.

Either David Greene or someone else said this, there's always a number that works.

Just if there is a clogged drain; the plumber will eat up 1-3 months of cashflow. 

I am a numbers guy and have been very reluctant to delegate this out, but it is finally getting to the point where it is just eating too much of my time.

Quote from @Lynn Green: I had a "good" CPA for five years until we had to part ways due to the lack of knowledge on real-estate tax deductions.

Hi David,If you haven't read Investing Out Of State by David Greene, I've heard that was gold for any OOS Investing.

I had to eat one clothes washer flood about 4 years when it didn’t turn off while filling for a little unde $5,000. 

Best thing you can do is eat the charge or charge a flat rate to each tenant no matter the usage.