Thanks for your help, these forums are extremely helpful!

I'll let you know if I end up in that area.And @Eric Weireter thank you very much for this detailed breakdown of Durham neighborhoods - it is extremely helpful!

The lease that the tenants signed was an extremely basic one since they were made by the flipping contractors.

I went to an AREA meetup in Arlington that was extremely beneficial.

.$1,575/month or $2,175 when we move out and rent our apt.Expenses: Tenents pay all utilities except garbage.Insurance: $923.44 or $86.87/moGarbage: $40/moProperty Taxes: $236/moMortgage: $687.48Repairs & Maint: 12% since it's old, so $189/moVacancy: 5%, it's in a quiet neighborhood with great schools, so $79/moCapex: 5%, $79.$1,397.35Repairs:The roof looks good from the street, however it's about 15-20 years old so I expect to replace in 5 years or so. 

Extremely smart and savvy people, I can sell them on it.

The tooling and know-how is not cheap, which is why we don't touch drywall unless it's an extremely small patch... and even then, I'd rather have my painter do it.

This site mentions this downside.The second option, paying the penalty, makes it extremely hard to recover the costs, especially in a very challenging market like we have here.The reality is if you are truly "investing" then you have money.

It is  extremely common for hobby landlords to rationalise charging below market rents.

Both have turned out to be extremely profitable and I think you would be wise to try and make it happen if the numbers make sense.