Jay,Didn't anyone tell you - Never buy a rooming house on Elm Street ;-)I do like the airline personnel model, but find student rooming house and those close to research/teaching hospitals are good bets as well.  

The business model of a Realtor is to help you until you find your property with the hopes that that pays off in the end.  

But most do have their own washer/dryer.That tells me that everyone in my area is following the same model too. 

I've got one property that is a buy and hold and I'm looking into trying the buy-rehab-rent-refinance model next.

What i mean here is to know the essentials such as  where the water shutoff is, where the electric shut off is, where water pumps are and what kind of mechanics you have inside the building.Take note of the model numbers, year of manufacturer of certain vital equipment such as HVAC, water heaters and so on.

'we're on vacation' parties.So it's just different business models.

Nicer, cleaner, newer homes tend to make less cash flow, but you attract better tenants and when you take pride in your property the tenant is much more likely to take care of the home, and you have less turnover because your whole business model is around benefiting the tenant and they sense this and enjoy the mutually beneficial  relationship.  

Add in drugs and alcohol and even my model will see problems now and then.  

Not much different than a lot of us here aspire to.Hope you all enjoy it!

Most important for me, though is the encouragement I get from talking with others who are doing what I aspire to do from a distance as great as mine and with obstacles perhaps bigger.