Why be in the landlord business if the protections are few and the risk is high with low returns?

You can take any reserves and ladder them with CDs/Treasuries/some other low-risk fixed income asset to provide liquidity in case things go sideways, all while mitigating most of the interest load on the loan. 

Buying for 625K, cost for fix up with 1 ADU about 400K..

A house hacker with a  W-2 income can often times float some rehab costs on a duplex through cashflow or supplement some with their income.

First year no PM cost.

I pulled this off but with an FHA 203k loan which allows you to wrap the cost of renovations into the loan. 

I have hate for no one.This is simply an observation or something that is important to understand when you are in this business- because when you go to turn certain units you may run into this big extra cost.

Whatever you use, make sure it's state-specific.6) Putting a cap on utilities is smart, especially when you're starting out and have no idea what they're going to cost you.

The one month's worth of rent covers some costs (cleaning, readvertising) and the rest is a hedge against vacancy.

DIY managing is usually best, so you learn enough to avoid getting taken advantage of if/when you hire a PMC in the future.Your challenge is learning enough to avoid lawsuits and costly mistakes!