Didn't think about the death of a partner issue.  

(The fact that we had 2 deaths--natural thank God--two weeks ago in these apartments, 2 days apart, didn't even faze me!)

Instead of letting it drag me toward an early death I chose to start investing in real estate about 7 years ago.

Like @Ram Srinivasan mentioned you will to check on other fees they may charge as some will nickel and dime to death also extensions are important as well as no pre payment penalty fees. 

My grandpa's estate turned out to be incredibly complex and still hasn't been distributed, but due to some other deaths in the family it looks like my share is going to be closer to $2.5 million (500k of which is ownership of a commercial bank building).

Our section 8 tenant had a death in the family, and unable to pay this month's tenant portion.

It won't matter if Zillow joins REALTOR or not, they already have the lions share of traffic and if they suddenly get blocked I don't think it will stop them, it will be a death for REALTOR as their brand is no longer valuable.

Get inspections, request rent tolls, check that taxes are paid and call the mtg company to make sure they have not defaulted/are behind.

The profits look good until you have to pull a gun out of your truck to keep two guys from stomping a tranny hooker to death in your front yard (true story). 

The only way to get deals is by direct mail and finding "motivated sellers" i.e. people who are upside down, just got divorced and need to sell, a death in the family etc.