or garage had to walk up 2 flights of stairs to get to kitchen (hey i needed to lose some weight neway :))If you find a million dollar house & pay $500k. probably lot more wiggle room to cut down trees or fix something. 

I would weight in the risks of owning properties away from your home base.

The relationships here are worth their weight in gold and will absolutely help you in your real estate career.Do not be afraid to ask questions. 

The rents need to equal anywhere from 75% to 115% of the PITI mortgage payment without backing any vacancy type income out.Lastly, you can do these loan as commercial, where most of the weight is on the property itself as far as being able to service the debt.

My advised get a local mentor that has a results or has a great experienced that may help you to lessen the risk in investing.

I bring this up because if you call an agent and let them know you have a preapproval letter then the conversation seems to carry a little more weight.    

@Grant Francke When taking over a building w/ long term tenants paying less than market, I put heavy weight on how much trouble they are.

That history carries a lot of weight and should not be discounted or overlooked.Continued success! 

If you've got a sagging floor and you add more weight to it (with a leveling compound for example), you're likely to force it sag more.My suggestion is that, if it's not noticeable, sell it as is.

As long as you don't think you'll be able to fix everything yourself, you should do fine.I wouldn't put heavy weight on the "do school first and then try to invest" mentality.