FHA and the USDA loan have permanent mortgage insurance which is an added cost that does nothing for you, whereas conventional removes the mortgage insurance once you have 20% equity in the property so if you can do conventional that is generally preferred but if you can make the numbers work FHA can be a good option too. 

What system is everyone using to keep track of property information such as insurance premiums, maintenance records, age of the A/C, etc.

I know this site mainly focuses on how to buy investment properties, but I thought I would touch on a subject that may help someone down the road avoid a potentially expensive pitfall through the proper insurance coverage.

I think I'd like to have all my money back so I can get into another property, while my tenants pay down principal... and I'm budgeting for capex, maint/repair, vacancy, insurance, taxes, and management... but is the benefit of having nothing in the deal worth having almost no true cash flow?

1- Secure contract with purchase price and terms2- Send contract to title (search and insure)3- Draft note and mortgage (you'll need a lawyer to do this- less than $500 likely)3- Seller uses proceeds (your down payment) to pay-off  the lien (The title company will handle all this)4- Close the transaction5- Establish payments to sellerYou'll want to make sure there will not be a delay between the payoff of the 1st lien- executing the "lien release" and closing your transaction- will require coordination.

Make sure you have good insurance in case she burns down the house.

And that was before taxes/insurance, etc.

My holding costs include $500 rent per month, insurance, and taxes.

Something to consider: Financing, contracts, title work, insurance, bookkeeping, taxes and returns can be overwhelming even when personally making a purchase let alone in an LLC when starting out.

They finally send someone back out to look at the property again, and this time they tell me the basement had been flooded and there is mold growing up the walls.I'm not real pleased with how the PM treated things, but now I need to deal with insurance.