To address a few of the points I made in the first post:Seller actually had a sales contract ready, so I didn't have to draw up one myselfThe inspection was a little problematic:The financing bank hired the appraiser, and they (inspector) were generally hard to deal with.I've since bought 2 more SFH's finance thru this bank and had similar problems with their appraiser - - so next time, I may try a bigger bank that can bring better tools to deal.Seller and I signed the contract at the same time, but due to the appraiser problems, I had to go back to him to offer an extension to the closing date.Closing went very smoothly.The seller was also a landlord/investor/flipper - so he was pretty easy to deal with during all the bumps.Things I should have done differently:I should have spent more time negotiating, so I paid a bit too much for the house, but I was in "first-house fever" and wanted a set of keys pretty badly.I should have researched more banks. 

We've offered him some cash but he isn't cooperating at this point.My other obvious option is a service extension request which will dig up the street and install a new sewer line just for my house. 

Had it been 70K I would have lowered the hammer.You mention modifications, understand that modifying a note is a new extension of credit, if it is an owner occupied, 1-4 family, that note then falls under Dodd-Frank as sellers are exempt from origination issues to a point, a note holder who purchased a note who deals in notes will be in a lending status.

Google Sheets:I use spreadsheets to manage my projects extensively.

Once you have property management in place, I assume you vetted them pretty extensively. 

I have a sfh in NC that has been rented for a little less than a year. All pipes/plumbing were in working order when rented. Today I received a complaint that the the pipe under the kitchen sink has a leak and apparen...

I've been thinking about real estate investment for years & I've done extensive research and now I'm ready to make some moves to obtain tangible results.

@Leo Qu There is an extensive discussion about the company in this tread. http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/92/topics/126001-anyone-worled-with-profit-from-rentals

I have been trying to do extensive research before taking the plunge but like I keep hearing time and time again, "Just do it" and stay away from paralysis by analysis.

After multiple months of following the local Denver market, extensively reading multiple books, we decided to use an FHA loan to purchase a fully rented 4 family property with a large 3 car garage in the Baker neighborhood of Denver that was in need of rehab.We purchased this property for under his name at 3.5% down (~$14,000), total purchase price of $360,000.