I do this full time now.Maybe we can give each-other tips to get into each-others market.

I assume you can still take the full interest expense as a deduction to your income, so effectively you're saving money by not paying taxes (you're not collecting rent for yourself, but you are getting tax deductions for it!)

Rent increases are a tool, if people are stable and provide benefits (like keeping an eye on the property) then maybe they get a slightly better deal, if I want them out they get the full increases as I am happy if they stay and pay and happy if they leave.I agree with @Corby Goade, do not be the landlord, be a employee of your own management company so you can be the middle person and not get all the stories and push back.

I have a full time job and have no other debt.

One big thing would be to urge myself to talk to a full-service CPA firm either before or immediately upon acquiring the first rental.

Once you build a relationship then you can stop the babysitting.Lastly- please go after that POS as hard as you can and fight for more money then he stole for you.

I would expect for a 160K house the rent would be around 1100 not 2100, however if you did the full rehab and the property is really 360K then 2100 would make more sense. 

Right now like many others on BP, I am working full-time and studying real estate in the few hours I have outside of work.

Bought a 6 flat, full gut ($700k rehab), rented it out, refinanced, and rolled proceeds into another project.

Red flags are overly eager, offering to do repairs, offering advance rent payment, inability to pay FMR, deposit, LMR in advance in full, negative comments about present landlord, needing to move in less that a month.