I let this guy move into one of my foreclosures in exchange for remodeling work (I know, mistake). Of course he has done minimal amounts of work and is behind schedule. I have had enough of him, his attitude, his excu...

This isn't "first come first serve" it's all about placing the best tenant for the property into the property.

See real estate ROI calculators around the BiggerPockets site or other websites to make sure you're not missing any expenses category, and be generous in your estimates of expenses; i.e., error on the high side when estimating. 

I would say, based on your intro, that the best way to approach your real estate investing career is to take advantage of all the free resources this site has to offer.Participate in the forums, read the blogs and articles, and listen to the podcasts.There is seriously a wealth of information here at your disposal.We are happy to help in any way we can.Once again, welcome to BiggerPockets, and I wish you the best in your real estate investing career.

get a site going, while you do the DM.

Hi Derek, The more sites you're on, the better!

However, the most unfortunate thing I see in this business all the time is when someone turns over their investment to a company that simply does not do enough when it comes to managing.To keep this post succinct, I highly recommend calling multiple companies and asking the questions from this great BP post: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/01/1...I have managed a scattered site portfolio consisting of 144 single family homes and multi 2-4 throughout St.

Great resources on the site, have you checked out the podcasts? 

Welcome to the site @Joe Kaslowski!

I see all over this site that you will lose money if you use a property manager.