Sam Ven, I self manage my smaller apartments and use buildium I research many of the other solutions and this seemed to be the most comprehensive for the money.

@johnchapman, wondering if you think my scenario is any different than your rec for straight umbrella coverage: I'm a surgeon who one day WILL get sued.

Wow.... that's hard to nail down to a single thing because there are so many things that, if done wrong, can result in the collapse of the entire business.I guess I would have to say the single most dangerous pitfall would be failing to create a comprehensive business plan/model that provides a solution for everything that will need to be done..... as well as anticipate market changes which require adjustments to your business model.There's a famous military General (I think it was General Patton) that was credited with being a military genius because he gave immediate and specific commands for every scenario the battlefield threw at him.

China is cooking their books big time, the Eurozone is still in crisis (it has just dropped out of our headlines for a while) the whole middle east thing can precipitate something very nasty in hours, and we have NO coverage in this country about 100 TRILLION in unfunded mandates at the federal level alone.

Michael Krassos:Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR), also known as "debt coverage ratio" (DCR) is the ratio of cash available for servicing debt to the principal and interest.

The coverage on the back of the tile was minimal. 

Indicatively, for every 100 records we analyze (listings, public records), we display only 1-2 data points.2) granularity: We look for 75 different features and amenities in listings and display up to 25 photos of each comp.3) data coverage: We pull data from dozens of sources, both public and private, and merge all of them together to produce the final data set.If any one has any questions feel free to reach out directly to me at [email protected],George

I would not assume any good appreciation on the property.The 4 units are all rented, all month-to-month.I'm getting a good rate on a conventional loan with 25% down.I'm assuming these expenses:10% vacancy15% maintenance & repairs$85/mo for lawn maintenance and miscProperty taxes based on 2012 records (plus some for appreciation)Insurance based on rate quotePM cost of 8%, with estimate of 2 new leases (at cost of 80% of month rent).These all boil down to a 55.47% of gross income expenses (more than the 50% rule).So these numbers are based on above expenses, with and without PM:Cash on Cash: 5.35% / 9.15%Total ROI: 9.2% / 13.0 %Cap Rate: 6.44% / 7.48%GRM: 7.69 / 7.69Debt Coverage Ratio: 1.3 / 1.5Break Even Ratio: 0.80 / 0.73Since it's about an hr from where I live, and in a bad neighborhood, I was considering using a PM.There was talk about the rents being raised, but I probably should not consider that at all in my analysis.Any thoughts / comments / suggestions?

Hey Dan and thanks for such a comprehensive introduction . . . with posts like that, you'll be a hit around here!

No debt at all is an extreme position.One measure of risk is "Debt Coverage Ratio" This is your Net Operating Income divided by the amount of debt.