Make sure to pay your bills on time and if you have large amounts of bad debt work on the snowball method to pay it down.

If the tenant looks good in every respect except for credit, then you can mitigate the risk by collecting additional rent up front.Just be careful you aren't lowering your standards every time someone waves cash in your face.

I deal a lot with investors in my area and I also invest myself, its a great way to make additional money. 

  - Sales Price $720,000- Down Pay: 15%  $108,000 (higher down payment reduces your risk)- Balance owed: $612,000- Int Rate:  6.75% (nice spread on your cost of money at 2.5% - Arbitrage)- P/I payment:  $3,969.42- make the buyer pay T/I in their escrow payment thus increasing payment- Hold period - 5 years- Additional Interest earned = $203,884 (No Longer a Loss)- No Rental Management needed- No repair costs- You can still deduct the interest on the underlying loan as an expense - ask your CPA- Monthly income without the hassle ($400-500 each month, more if there's T/I escrow)I'm in NM and do these all the time. 

We're stretched thin enough on this deal that I'm not considering putting additional down. 

They aren't that expensive.An umbrella policy does more than provide you additional liability coverage for your rent properties.  

The access would be from outside of the building, so at least we don't need to plan with interior damage.This seems hefty to us, but we can't find any additional plumbers in our area who provide this service.

However, you can make certain properties work depending on your strategy, implementing creative financing strategies (seller financing if they have 100% equity usually), to keep your debt service lower.

Memphis has a very strong rental base with additional growth potential in the coming year. 

I am sure there are good RE agents who are not also investors, but I want someone who understands what it's like to own property in addition to buying and selling it.