I'm a CT based real estate investor and own a property management company. 

@Stepan Fedetskiy section 8 can be good option if you have a good PM who maintains the property in good shape all the time as per the needed standards. best part is govt pays a portion of the rents so you dont have to chase tenants, downside the upkeep of the unit will eat up appx 20%. so its little tricky..sounds good on paper but when you go through one you will get an idea. i had 4-5 section 8's , 3 of them had no issues, but 1 of them had lot of issues and ate up all the profits.  

My partner has a stable full-time job, but his photography business is not as steady as he'd like.We're interested in purchasing a multifamily property in either Baltimore, MD, or Hagerstown, MD, to kickstart our real estate journey.

I just share the below for you to make your own decision.  

While it was nice to learn, I ultimately realized that my time is much more valuable doing what I do best and it's better to pay for those who specialize in evictions.

However 2 things to note: 1) DSCR loans for future investment property acquisitions do not care about your DTI (DTI only really matters when buying a new primary or any time you are using a Fannie/Freddie/Ginnie loan).  2) After 12 months of proof of someone else paying it for you, you may be able to omit it from your DTI calculation. 

Even more are evicted informally.My company manages 400 rentals, and we evict less than 1% per year.How do you measure up?

Also, what key factors are influencing your decisions?

For us we either do or do not provide and if it’s provided then we as the owner are responsible for routine maintenance on the appliance and only time tenant is responsible is if they did not take proper care (or use) of the appliance.as a sidenote what if a tenant said - cool not part of lease come remove it I want my own fridge - you will spend more moving it out than you would by including it in lease. 

Unfortunately, I work a full-time job during the day and don't have a caretaker for the property, which makes it difficult for me to reach her at times that work for me.At your advice, I will definitely consider sending the five-day via certified mail.