Safety comes Into play primarily with targeted crime, otherwise vacant properties and appliance theft is high.

It's better to get in the game than sit on the bench and not play.    

If you fail because of your attempts to be a 'nice guy', how will that play out?

Not sure what kind of capital you're playing with, but some of those 5br or bigger homes crush it on Airbnb.

My wife has better credit but the rental is in my name only, as I bought it before we met.The Question(s):• If the only way to pull the equity from this home is by doing the repairs, then selling it, is this a smart play, considering the property is already a great cash-flowing investment?

I had a tenant contact me yesterday stating that she was at the vet, and her cat has been poisoned, by means of eating a dead mouse from inside her kitchen, and might not make it.

The cap was the go-to metric 15 years ago when I started investing, now it seems way more factors come into play, such as appreciation, quality of the property (I bought something with a 22% cap in Braddock PA last year, but also the wind could blow it over at any minute...), and estimated future value increases.  

There are still several potential plays on these greystones, but again they're not just sitting out there for the taking (and they might not fit your investment model) 1.

I recently purchased the last two duplexes on a short dead end drive.

More people will see these as ways to decrease a housing expense while living close to where they work or having option to live work play, which is why people live in large cities anyways.