He also recommends bringing in specialists if he sees something that may be a concern but is outside his area of expertise.I do not know your level of experience but often when you read a home inspection report they make the property sound like the place is a piece of s**t but most of the items a decent handyman can take care of in a couple of days for a few hundred dollars. 

Stock market investors are often so focused on growth that many do not realize how the leverage, cash flow, and tax-deferral of real estate investing can combine to produce potent returns.

We finally evicted the messy tenant and the roach infestation was so bad we had to replace the carpets.I often doubted the complaints of some sensitive tenants till we treated a unit, my wife went in the next day to clean up the vacant unit a day later, and got pesticide poisoning.

When I was doing rentals, '80s through 2001 I started requiring a minimum of two year leases and it reduced my turnover vacancies, increasing my return, and getting me a better class of tenant.

In my area I see a lot of "Mother In-Law" apartments and other non-legal 1 bedroom tack ons... often these are garage conversions. 

What kind of tenants are you okay with dealing with?

It seems like finding a house with a "20% discount" as is so often talked about in the books I read is extremely hard to find in this area. 

If you look at a $1m property, it is often closer to $4k-$5k rent.

People can be frugal but often are not.

Is it worth buying a condo/townhome as your first property or are single-family homes often the best first investment property?