It is important to get a good scope on the mechanical systems plus roof for capex.

House hacking seems to be one of the less risky first steps into REI and can give a lot of first hand experience with the mechanics of landlord /tenant relationships as well as how to analyze and make deals. 

@Kelly Conrad the mechanics of transferring the name is easy. 

Put a tenant in a house with bad mechanicals?

Frankly, lending has become pretty mechanical based on a loan file and IMO it's because really "reading" people is a lost art, most loan officers don't have a clue as they are just about the numbers and loan rules.

Landlords usually take maintenance outside and mechanicals, but go with what is common in your area.

Found an interesting article about Mechanics liens explaining how they can be used to generate huge yearly returns in excess of 200%.

Construction injury, mechanics lien.

These agents do not understand how much it costs to care for the property and make a positive cash flow from the rents after all expenses are paid.I use the following formula for evaluating rental properties for a positive cash flow because I lost money not doing it this way.I do not use CAP rates.They are a lie.The mortgage interest is not included in the expense figures.This formula uses Gross Monthly non-section 8 rents which equal 1% of basis.Example:$1000 per month in building rents is equal to $100,000.00 basis.The rents at 1% of basis will pay back the entire investment purchase price, the payment to service the loan, principle, interest, taxes, insurance and the down payment money required by the lender.Now you must Subtract 25% from the “Basis” to pay for management, vacancy, repairs and expenses of the property which equals $25,000 subtracted from $100,000.00.We now have a purchase price of $75,000.00Now you need to subtract all needed, deferred maintenance repairs from the $75,000.00 to bring the property into rent ready condition and mechanically up to date for your final purchase price.If you have $25,000.00 in repairs you would subtract it from the $75,000.00 for your final purchase price of $50,000.00.In negotiating the transaction price I only use the current rent role.

Ask for the rent rollAsk for 2 to 3 years copies of Schedule E (see what was reported for income & expenses)- Usually only get this after you've made an offer & have put up EMDRequest the age of the mechanical systems & if any deferred maintenance is needed Research recently sold similar properties to determine if the CAP Rate is competitive