I'm hoping that my wife and I's combined good income plus being able to put more skin in the game will get me past my "newbie" status?

They all promise this will be the time that they are different blah, blah, blah.So the mentor wants to know they have skin in the game where if the steps are not followed the results will be painful and they will lose money.

Biggest thing they want to see is skin in the game.  

Additionally, you are the common link between all roomers - each has a lease with you and no {social} contract with one another - and, as a consequence, you will be sucked into more roommate issues;3) You will want to bake the use of a cleaning service into your budgeting numbers ... where the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, living room, etc are common spaces, it is quite likely no-one will clean them properly;4) Our experience has been that a rooming house works best if you, or someone you explicitly trust and/or who also has skin in the game, resides in the property.  

I do worry that Memphis may dry up at some point and I am looking at other markets around Nashville to go into as long as I can find a good property manager I can rely on.

With zero down they have no skin in the game so they can walk away, lose nothing, and leave you holding the bag.

Since the mls has dried up I have been buying off market deals.

@Andy Chu yes sir, we are looking at cabinet refacing and/or replacing, electrical, plumbing, dry wall and painting, flooring and landscaping.

Make sure your partner puts some skin in the game btwThere are no shortcuts, if it were as easy as paying for a course and then you got a secret sauce that made you rich there would be no BP.

Dry, dead mold (*like from a dehumidifier) is even more dangerous.