I invest in notes and for my non performing notes there is a decent amount we end up foreclosing on.

I am looking into purchasing my first property in pittsburgh and rent it out as long term investment.I have following hopes/strategies:- Safe area (B/B+)- Reasonable cash flow- Good appreciation potentialI am thinking following locations (which can totally be non sense)- Attract high income workers (close to IT hubs?

We normally get it as a credit, unless it’s held by a 3rd party(pm).You can consult the lease agreement for each tenant, if the LL says someone only paid some or non, you need to get estoppel forms signed by both the LL and tenant, or just risk owning the tenant money they never really paid the LL.

If you want a non risky challenge try and find a deal to wholesale, it has been hard on me so far and new pockets of chaos keep popping up in my pursuit of a first deal that have taught me how difficult it can be to find a good deal or do real estate. 

Most of this non-legal advice in this thread is pretty good.

@John Thedford depends on the PPM you use  @Michael Bishop  same thing you can pay for a PPM that allows non accreds.. they are just much more expensive and usually are used for very large raises.

At that point buy a SFR & you'll just have to pony up the 25% down payment for the next non owner occupied rental.

@Bruce Mackay Then what you need is a LOI (letter of intent) or MOU (memorandum of understanding) that spells out the material terms which are not subject to re-negotiation later but which letter/memo is non-binding until a final agreement is signed. 

If you are looking at a small multi-family of four units or less:Rent RollReview all leases, addendums, or other agreementsTenant payment historyAny violation notices, delinquenciesList of all maintenance in the past yearSchedule of capital improvements in the past 3-5 yearsUtility bill reviewP&L for current year plus the last 1-2Service contracts (landscaping, cleaning, snow removal, etc.)Inventory of all property owned by SellerThere may be more but this is a good start.

Whatever you have left over from your annual rental income after you have paid all the annual expenses for property taxes, hazard insurance, cleaning, maintenance and upkeep, repairs, property management, legal fees, advertising, mailing, postage, HOA fees, etc. is your annual cash flow.