Under the best circumstances my quick math puts you nearly $700 in the red each month.If your biggest concern is the electrical, why would you assume you can fix/replace everything yourself for only $10k?

To give him more of an incentive, is giving him let's say 3.5% rather than 2.5%, a way around that issue?

Keeps incentives aligned.

My biggest concerns are always foundation issues, or a bad layout that can't be easily fixed. 

I am 100% certain my biggest obstacle is finding or hearing about properties before they hit the market.

Biggest advice is that you get educated on the restrictions put on SDIRAs with respect to UBIT and UDFI.

One of the biggest landlords in my city uses this technique and he has made tens of thousands of dollars in extra income by doing this.

My biggest cost would likely be medical insurance, food being the second, quarterly tax payments, normal bills for the home.Is anyone here living off their rental properties?

Also don't investors like putting down the least amount of money possible so they get the biggest ROI and continue leveraging their money?

For the sake of keeping the scope of this thread manageable, we will assume there are no tax incentives or credits that apply to your town or state only and just think in terms of general, nationwide tax law.