In this case your interests and the HML's interests are aligned, they know that if you lose the house, you ain't going to be paying them back, and they do not want that outcome any more than you do.

I am actually in the process of a cash out refi right now with the second one, but with the money I am getting back (about 30k) I will be paying all my investors and then there is not much left for me to re invest unless i got back to raising money.Thanks for the help though, I hope you can buy your first property soon!

it is all about being creative in your offer and making sure that it is align with what you want, but also satisfying the sellers needs.When you are looking at expenses, get a rent roll, 12 month maintenance history, any renovation background etc.  

The primary has one year left on the mortgage before renewal, while the other has 3 years to renewal.

After the moved out they stole the appliances and left the place a mess.

If your roof only have 5 years left and will cost $6,000, reserving $50/mo will leave you very short on that reserve account.

On another note, you do realize any house left unattended for lengthy periods will expose you to a multitude of problems, for example:Mold, rodents, insect infestation is almost certainCarpetbaggers, homeless, and or drug addicts may become a problem that could ultimately be your responsibilityWhat is the city ordinance?

Now I'm left over leveraged. 

Where my wife and I settled, given our loans coming out of college (and in hindsight they were extremely low interest: 2% on federal, about 3.5% on private, with one small one carrying about 6%, I believe) was to take roughly half of our left over take home and pay down loans, and the rest goes into savings/investments.  

Profit is what's left over.