-Not communicating with investors effectively- How the unit is performing, what it needs to get it to perform better.

Rent increases need to be given annually and rent needs to be maintained at market otherwise you are paying a portion of their rent.

While not as effective as a face to face I've gotten go leads doing this when I'm in areas where they don't meet frequently or I'm there between meetings.You can also look for realtors who are selling the type of property you're interested in buying, go to their personal website and see if they are selling a number of investment homes or if that was just a one and off.

Do local eviction laws incentivize paying the rent or do they have the opposite effect?

I also understand that making that money work for me will be far more effective than letting it sit in my bank account.

What would you say is a good amount to save for managing and maintaining the property?

If you actually expect the tenant to pay for maintaining your property plus pay rent.

I love going to different homes, seeing the vast differences in quality and layout, comparing them to the local market, and putting it all together to make a "big picture".My largest challenge so far is developing an effective marketing system. 

And that's because we were conservative with leverage and never bought at the top of a market.3 - Maintain a *lot* of liquidity in other investments so we can feed the properties if necessary, and like you said pay off the notes if refinancing is not available.4 - Never bite off more than we can chew.

Remember their ability to keep their job (or have a steady income) will directly effect their ability to pay the rent.We always have them submit pay-stubs. 2 - 3 most recently ones give us the information we need.