... locate housing as closely as possible to the university (ideal would be no more than 2 miles away, so you can ride bike/bus or walk to school) with 3-4 bedroom with 3+ baths, common area + kitchen (probably need some renovation work which equals sweat equity), get 2-3 roommates and their rent should pay the mortgage ($450 times 2-3 goes a long way toward a mortgage), so you live rent free or as close to free as possible .... think like an engineer, make the numbers work! 

I think a hybrid is ideal - you still want to keep the original docs you have your tenants sign for lease, but at the same time it makes sense to scan them and also store them digitally.  

@Michael Sears Perhaps you could approach it like you would a deal itself - how much are you willing to take/give up, what would your ideal # be and what would your strike # be? 

I look at the CPA relationship as ideally a long term, maybe even lifetime relationship.

But for me personally I probably wouldn't want to do a straight subtraction from my ideal purchase price that I calculated - my estimate of repair costs.  

I think Columbus would be ideal for keeping rental income flowing with all the college students. 

(At least, that's how the movie version would go. :-) I hope it works out for you.

Ideally, I would like to buy pre-MLS or from a wholeseller.

:) I love living in Miami so ideally for now I'd like to stay here but I'm open to investing in other markets.

Ideally, I'm looking for a mix of appreciation & cash flow.