suppose if the best you can do in the investing world is 5% or be a landlord then yes your summation I guess is best for those..for me my cash is put out on value add new builds and we double our money in 9 months.. that's the kind of returns I like not drip income..I can never win the landlord argument I understand that and most landlords can't do what I do anyway so its not a fair comparision.http://vimeo.com/263639790  this is what I personally like to do... and this is one of 30 I have going  LOL.. different business for sure. 

What kind of maintenance are you meaning?

To the extent points are being captured in the Cap Rate you're actually skewing the cap rate with your leverage, which kind of defeats the purpose of that metric.Since the goal of Cap Rate is to provide a quick and dirty view of the risk/reward of a property.

Assuming the logical next step is to hire an attorney, what kind (real estate, litigation, etc)?

For instance, if you get a degree in Real Estate and an MBA in Real Estate & Entrepreneurship, and with the kind of passion you already have, you'll probably achieve a lot as a developer before you turn 30.

Probably all depends on what kind of neighborhood and what kind of renters you're looking for.

That was kind of the way I was leaning any way, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't some obvious solution that I was over-complicating.

It probably is a waste of money, I don't know what kind of deal you got from Hud but make sure it is a low offer lol.

It was a good lesson for me to leave this kind of work to professional that knows exactly how to assist you, and they guarantee that the result will be perfect.

To make a financial mistake that big, you would have to be foolish or lack any kind of experience.