Quote from @James Sills: I am looking at changing careers as soon as possible to something that can help my real estate investing aspirations.

you said "rent covers mortgage." you need it to be significantly higher than the mortgage to cover all the expenses you are going to incur.hope this helps...

Fewer but better properties will usually outperform more "affordable" properties. 

And it sold for more because I was accessible and right there walking with them in their buying journey. 

also... no.i hope this helps. 

My lease requires professional carpet cleaning, which would cost more than $500 for a home of that size.Yes, it's reasonable to reduce the cost because she was such a long-term tenant.

A more likely situation is you’d have to offer AT LEAST 7% to her, making your payment $1830 and your payoff in 3 years $265k.

I'm using the heck out of virtual accounts and virtual cards, which is helping keep my finances much more organized for each individual property.

(I personally did this) I would say though that in the worst-case scenarios that you mention of loss of job and such, I view it as more helpful to have someone by your side helping you construct a plan through it who has been through hundreds of those situations before helping clients.

Some investors also use a business line of credit backed by their cash flow, which can help with future deals.If you’re planning to scale, maybe start stacking that cash for the next property or even park some in T-bills for short-term returns.