I know with just one of my duplexes rented to middle class people there is more interaction and complaints and stories and delayed rent then we are happy with.Think of what you are saying "owner provides a Bed and a mattress occasionally"  What can be sadder than that?  

This happens to me occasionally with my direct mail.

I'd stay far away from them for anything other than eBay purchases and the occasional sending money to friends/family.

If you have cash reserves and can handle the occasional vacancy, and lower cashflow for 10 years, you will make more money by taking the shorter term loan. 

From what I analyzed while looking you really needed to be at 4 units, occasionally 3, with 10-20% down for the property to cashflow.  

Or maybe an occasional dinner meetup rather than lunch?

We have a small number of renters who occasionally pay late, and we even give them a 5 day grace period that isn't in their contract.

Occasionally a deal gets listed right away - around here that typically only happens if a residential realtor catches a tiger by the tail and has neither the experience or the contacts/clients to sell the property out of pocket.I also highly recommend Ken McElroy's book ABCs of Real Estate Investing.

I'm not at all sure the process would have been as smooth as it has been if I went with a regular bank that occasionally does VA loans.

It also includes maintenance (typically 10% of rent), property management (also about 10%), vacancy (you'll know better than me, but realize one moveout/unit/year and a month to get it re-rented is close to 10%), legal fees, advertising, occasional but large capital items like furnaces or roofs, evictions, repairs after a disgruntled tenant wrecks the place, and who know what oddball unexpected situation.