It sounds like you bought a crap hole in the city of Atlanta for cheap.I really hope that's not the case.High taxes and bad rehab jobs make these properties real losers.I looked at the 2 years ago for a few months traveling all over the area.At the time they were priced at about 30,000 a house.I was looking at the area because my area in the burbs 45 minutes out was dropping but still at about 85,000 a property which was too high for me.Now in Atlanta some of these places are going for 5,000 and in my area which is much nicer has gone down to the 30's to 50's a property.I specifically do not buy older places in Atlanta.If you know the market there were these groups say 4 to 5 years ago.They came in and did hack jobs and then flipped these properties for crazy amounts.They took the money and ran making over 100k a property and the appraisers were involved to.They did nothing but put pretty lipstick on a turd.Now these properties have galvanized pipes,foundation issues,lead based paint,asbestos,mold,knob and tube wiring mix with current wiring,radon,etc.It sounds like with this turn key company they are padding fees on the back end.Real estate brokers that sold REO used to do this kind of stuff.They would only be making say 2% on the sale of the property.So for the trash out the REO broker would use a company that had ownership in and make up the money over billing the servicer or bank.This lasted for about 6 months to 1 year and banks caught onto it which is why they use third parties to ensure they get the best pricing now for all of the steps in selling an REO.Anytime I hear "turn-key" I would run away.I have not had experience with them but have heard nightmare story after nightmare story on here.It sounds easier for a company to dupe an out of state investor than one on the ground that can watch what they are doing like a hawk.This property management company knows they are padding.Why else would they put a clause if you cancel you pay all of this money??

There are proactive and preventative things that can be done to "catch" bed bugs at an early stage and needs to be shared with your renters.You educate them on bed bugs and have them sign an acknowledgement that they have read the materials and will stay aware and on top of what and where they contact bed bugs (i,e, travel,buying used furniture, shopping at thrift stores, etc)Nip it now so that you don't have to go through this again in the future because the risk gets greater especially if someone has a severe reaction to the bites - guess who gets sued?

My day job requires extensive travel and unfortunately managing the properties myself is not an option.

That is that like travel agents and full price stock brokers, real estate agents will be put out of business altogether.

if the water has to travel up 3 or 4 stories,,,is he giving it enough time to get from the heater to his faucet??

With those, there's also plenty of smaller satellite towns around it you can check out.But then again, those who are used to these small towns are used to travel what is necessary to get thier income necessary.And if you are able to purchase properly (low enough) you can gain a reputation for providing "starter homes" for those youngsters as they move out.

I am willing to travel for the right investment.I am interested in a flip but want to do it first with a partner.

We did travel quite a bit and never saw anything that would represent a slum or ghetto like we have in our country.

Travel time and distance as well as the means by which people access the major employment hubs of a city are critical for us to ensure that we are looking into suburbs with close proximity or at the very least good access to major roads/train systems.I hope this clarifies things - let me know what you think.

She works for a medical lab and makes sure the testing meets QC standards.