The tenant supposedly had complained for months to the property manager that the furnace was not working.

If you're willing and able, I do recommend the "house hacking" strategy which is just a fancy name for buying a rental property and living in one of the units, because you'll get very favorable financing - an owner-occupied fixed-rate 30-year mortgage.I'd also say, analyze that property as if you won't live there and it's a pure rental, and make sure the property is still cash flow positive if there's a tenant in your unit because then you'll know if it's actually a good investment.And when you analyze it, include payment of a property manager in your #s because if you don't, and doing so would make it go cash flow negative, then you've just bought yourself a job because you literally can't step away from managing it without losing money.

We use Avail.co to manage our rentals' leases, rent collection and checks.

Property managers and agents can be really helpful as well as they’ll give you insight into the market and could have some opportunities for you down the road.In the meantime, try researching the areas you're interested in.

We live in Northern Florida and manage our 10 long term rentals and do flips in northern Florida and we decided not to go that route with this south Florida home after we started digging into it.  

We talked about an aggressive paydown at a rate of $5k for the next 6 months to make the deal sweeter for the next person, but renting it would be preferable to that I believe since I can get a higher return on smaller development projects at a burn rate like that. 

Great, there is a lot of guides and resources on managing properties here, and analyzing deals.

The experience varies based on location, tenant management, and financing, but overall, it’s an excellent way to get started with minimal upfront costs.Good luck!

that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.

Will you hire a property manager?