I spend my weekends maintaining their rental.  

Do you think I could do better while maintaining a limited level of involvement in the day to day operations from afar (California)?

What we do NOT have going for us is the ability to 'do-it-yourself,' since I can mess up a wet dream when it comes to maintaining my own property, let alone another one.

Maintain schedule devised by Landlord for light maintenance: Replace Smoke and C02 Batteries, Furnace Filters etc…If Smoke and C02 Alarms need actual replacing, it will be done by a licensed electrician.7.)

Cap/ex/maintainance needs to be way higher I usually underwrite roughly $1000 a year per a unit.

An important factor is the building information the insurers maintain about homes.

Our property manager performs multiple inspections throughout the year, maintaining good if not better condition of our investments and we have been so pleased with their communication and  transparency in comparison to other PM's we have worked with in other parts of the country.

I would imagine she would want to do what she could to maintain and stay in the unit.

With all the cost associated in maintaining property, we may have slight negative in income if LTV is only 75%.This is where 6% CD is becoming interesting, it is actually an hedge to future that is getting darker every day.

Debit not Credit - to start, get good with maintaining a positive checking account balance.