I have concerns as to if now is a good time to invest in real estate within these markets or if I may have missed the right opportunity.

It's very possible (maybe even likely) the mold would have been missed in a friendly "walk-through".  

I am soo frustrated and feel as though I have got to be missing something.

I have a friend that has bunch of Section 8 properties and his tenants are very hit or miss, mostly miss.

I have heard that since they started missing payments a few years ago.Let’s say that the kids have never been… financially prudent.

@Lisa KohlThank you, that is exactly what I was thinking, but thought I may be missing something.

If he thinks that is acceptable, we maybe should be getting an audit to see if money is missing from the HOA account, right?

One part you missed is your passive losses become deductible against ordinary income.

Here are the numbers I am seeing though on a monthly basisIncome $1400Debt service (assuming $0 down) $618Taxes $250Vacancy  $117 Lawn care $50Misc $84 (I am not sure what misc is referring to but ill leave it on there for you.)Cap X $114Management $114Maintenance $114insurance $114Monthly GOI = $1400Monthly expenses= $1689Monthly cash flow= $(289)Feel free to adjust these numbers and repost if I missed something or was higher or lower than what you believe it would be for this particular property. 

Or, am I missing something?