You really need your business to be zero-defect, efficient and high touch before you acquire as those owners will be looking carefully whether to stay or go. 

Mine didn't see me needing the protection of an LLC until I grew larger but advised liability insurance.  

Through some direct marketing, an Executor of an estate reached out to me to sell his dad's house.

@Daniel M Gibson sticking to fundamentals and your "gut" is always the best course.Unlike 99% of the investors on this site, my take is that investing for cash flow is a bad idea...it creates a jaundiced view of how things work...meaning that investing is about controlling assets as wisely as possible...not immediate cash flow.I use seller carried loans routinely because I'm in for the long haul (and I don't need rental income to survive)...as long as the purchase price makes sense, I could care less about income...the concept is debt paydown and future equity.

(Not to say there is not a business model, even a lucrative one, that does not care who the client is but just cares if the rent will be paid.)  

. - Be careful.

Personally, I buy my rentals to hold them pretty much forever, so I care more about the buy/rent ratio than I do appreciation.  

Or the prior occupants didn't care at all about painting.

Be careful surfing the internet for information - there is a lot of bad information out there.Network.

My coworker mentioned that his brother in law is trying to get rid of an apartment complex he inherited.