., painting/touch-ups, and finding a new tenant. 4% vacancy equates to about 15 days, so if you do everything right and find a tenant ready to move in Feb. 15th, that eats up your vacancy allowance right there.

I can probably pull that together but it pretty much eats up all my reserves for emergencies and repairs to the units as they are not in need of repair but certainly dated.

In doing so, I felt like I had just decreased my own liability in case of emergency, by demonstrating my safety-consciousness (which only comes up if something goes wrong, when the stakes become high). 

I was listening to the "The richest man in Babylon" on audiobook, it has to be the best book I've ever read(listened to) it expanded my consciousness and brought me better insights into success, I would give it a rank #1 This should be a primarily first read even before "rich dad poor dad"

That's what happens to most.2 payments in the driveway, eating out, vacationing -  too comfortable.  

The additional time, complexity and  money I have to spend to drive to a more distant neighborhood in Milwaukee eats up the perceived benefits.

The numbers will always seem better in these marginal neighborhoods, but these hidden costs (i.e. move out repairs, etc.) can add up a lot and eat into your final profits. 

If you are looking to be more cost conscious, you could always find sub's that can do the work for you and that should save you some money.  

The one thing that's going to eat away at my return is the condo association fee.

Relax, eat and drink loads because in 2017 there's much work ahead.