Specifically I now track month end account balances, maintenance expenses and have a detailed list at my fingertips of the tenants that are late on their rents.

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.The City of Detroit has 183 Neighborhoods we’ve analyzed.PM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!

I should be a little better at getting through the contract and the other detail tasks.

The key is to understand the capital stack, who is in line in front of you and what are their terms.The people who are getting burned may have known there was debt in front of them, but did they know it was short term or variable - did they know all the details to make a good judgment on the investment.If a property had 20 year fixed debt at 70% would you take that over 3 year debt on a variable rate at 50%? 

For more details on driving for dollars, check out this article from BiggerPockets:   https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/driving-for-dollars

AirDNA's rentalizer tool can provide a detailed cash flow analysis.Investment Potential: Look at historical data and future projections to assess the long-term profitability of your investment.Using these tools and insights from AirDNA can help you make an informed decision about your short-term rental investment. 

I will hire a local person for emergencies and other stuff but wondering if anyone on this forum had specific details.

Would you mind sharing any details about your townhouse?

I am thinking fix&flip Here is a link to the details for our next Midwest REI Meetup.  

If you want more information, p.m. me and I can give you a lot more details.