Budgeting the time and money to move forward is key, as well as maintaining my health and energy to be able to follow through.

Nobody had books out there on QuickBooks to teach me, so I had to bite the bullet and study the manual.  

Make sure your property management is bullet proof or be prepared to make your presence known personally with a minimum of monthly visits.Be prepared to go to the property to collect rent.Many tenants in who rent in this area tend to be very hard on apartments.Tenant screening is an art more than a science as the vast majority of applicants have thin income and marginal credit (and criminal history)Of the close to 300 SFR's that have sold this year from 12th to 31st over 20% were short sales or bank owned.  

Bill Gulley - Thanks for the info, energy, and positive vibes.

So they must have built for no more than $100/sqft.I've read that some developers build for $65/sqft in Florida and Texas conventional homes energy efficient with solar panels...Building on a steep lot is way more expensive indeed because of the grading, excavation and foundation works especially.

The outer burbs gave us a good life with good schools and a lawn, but spending 100 minutes a day in the car was a huge waste of time and energy.  

It was an excellent way to get into investing and now that I have some experience under my belt I am focusing all my energy on buying and selling notes.

I wanted to become an architect but life happened and I chose to dedicate my time and energy to my family.

So, dealing with and negotiating about the violations I think would be wasted time and energy - since it does not address the root issue - your overdue payments. 

Jay's premise, and again I agree with him, is that you would go broke either in dollars or energy when you realized how much work it takes and how low you are putting your own self worth in dollar value.