I love doing these types of deals—not only because most people avoid them, but also because it’s rewarding to help sellers in these situations.

So I get your hesitation to be too demanding and your desire for the problems to go away as fast as they can, however since you have NO property manager ( I don't use one either), it is incumbent that you take a more ACTIVE approach with management of your property.Let's review your situation.  1st time leak occurred, you sent a plumber over to find the problem.  

If you need financial help, ask under the "Finance, Tax, and Legal" forum.

Often, it will also need work.So, that is causing investors to lower their standards and buy Class C & D rentals.Problem is, most investors apply Class A assumptions to these Class C/D properties - and then blame everyone else when they don't get their "expected" results.Check out copy & paste info below for more dtails:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Hi Moustafa, congratulations to you and your wife on your marriage and for thinking ahead about financial independence!

It depends on your financial strength, the quality of the property, how many properties you own, etc.I like to start with one significant expense and three months of vacancy.

Im literally closing a loan on Monday where my borrower had a similar situation - the borrower's ex-wife was awarded the property and assigned the debt in the divorce in 2020.

The place where you can add value with no money is a situation like: you find project A, it is a 120k purchase and it should need 80k rehab but you can get rehab done for 65k cause you can do some of the work and you know how to save on materials and you can manage the rehab. 

And hopefully I can be financially independent by paying the mortgage down eventually.  

And while it is not your job to be an expert loan officer, it certainly helps to avoid these situations.