A 3 yr break even on the buy down. 

So, you can get rid of a bad tenant.2) A bad tenant will move and break their lease whenever they want, whether MTM or annual.

I've never evicted anyone before, but I'm receiving a lot of complaints about them and they break a lot of lease violations, so I need them to go. 

The staging of the property either makes or breaks it.

We'd be looking for a smaller cottage, preferably not too far from a large body of water, ideally sub $200k.  

I like knowing everything about it and know I can fix anything that breaks.  

So, they have already used the tax break with in the 2 year period.

Try going on a "break" with that realtor and look specifically for one who not only understands investments but who also has good technical acumen for exporting and doing deep analytics on the MLS data. 

My thought is that since I am already wanting to learn the in’s and outs of property management and really involving myself in real life experience, perhaps if I offered to take care of the whole property for him in terms of dealing with the downstairs tenants, scheduling repairs/maintenance, and keeping up the properties landscaping so that the investor can remain more hands off he might be willing to give us a break on the rent so that we can save even just a little bit extra each month.

It can make or break the deal!