You will also get some great practice interviewing sellers. 

Hi BP,  I have 2 rentals that were acquired over the last 6 months... Property #1 closed Dec 2014 and was officially on the market May 1st 2015.  My tenant just moved in.  Property #2 closed mid Feb 2015 and should be...

The regulations have gone out of control and the storm water management alone will run into the 10's of thousands.

If you rented out your townhome, your tenant would have to follow the HOA's rules and regulations which can be an issue.And, if you're only going to rent it out only for a year, then you'll have to go back in and fix and prep it to get it ready for sale after a renter who's probably been a bit rough with it. 

So, in a larger sense, your best bet for stress testing might just be adopting conservative business practices and projections to shield yourself against volatility.

I spend 90% of my time in Cincinnati and practically live there so would be happy to meet up with you. 

Ideally, both.However some reasoning I have seen and feels logical is as follows:If you reduce your expenses by $X, you have saved $X.If you increase your income by $X, you have generated $X - taxes - value of time worked to earn that money - any other factors.So in terms of low-lying fruit (what is easiest/quickest to accomplish) cutting expenses AND THEN SAVING THE DIFFERENCE is what I would recommend doing first.My wife and I put this into practice. 

Good luck on your test, it's not that bad, I recommend doing the practice test over and over until you average around 85-90% before taking the state exam.

No real big challenges with our vacation rental, except local regulation that we ignore.

So if you have a cap rate of 10 to 12, then you are making about 10-12% on your cash purchase price.If you do have a loan, then if your loan interest rate and associated annualized costs (APR) is below your cap rate, then your actual return goes up.In practice, cap rates on deals in San Diego are from 4 to 9 percent depending on the area.