My position has changed now, but only because I made the most of every single dollar coming into my home.My favorite analogy about making and keeping money is that of a broken vase.

Contact me any time and let's discuss your needs and expectations. - Chris

If the locking mechanism is broken, fix it or add an after market locking mechanism.

Expect to screw up and make mistakes often.

It is all about setting expectations and enforcing consequences. 

And when is this next down cycle and what do you expect it to look like?

While I am younger than Patrick I am on the same track as he is ( I am 45 and currently manage 15 properties while working full time)  And would like to most likely exit completely at age 60 and find something truly passive yet still give me as close to the yield I am generating now (between 14 and 22% annually) I don't expect to get the returns I am making now on my rentals while self managing but at age 60 I hope to scale down my cost of living as well and not require as much, plus I will have 401k as well as social security so my plan is to have multiple streams of income. 

I've tried filing complaints about them to the landlords, but they always remind me that I'm not the only one living here so I can't expect complete silence all the time.  

I hadn't thought about that before and it sounds like a reasonable request since I'm expecting the tenants to replace the filter but i thought I would ask folks here for their take. 

I expect appreciation to grow rapidly within the next 5-7 years. 12 years to get my money back isn't aligned with my goals but I am interested in how to make this better or have a better understanding of knowing when the deal just doesn't work.