Since then he has mostly bought apartment complexes and has never lost any money and talks down about owning less than 32 units which usually allows you the chance of hiring an experienced Property Management Company to handle the daily operation that includes the screening and maintenance and you just manage the managers and get regular (once a week) financial statements and you still have positive cash flow.

We usually get a refund.

Hubby and I don't make much and usually get a refund so I figured this year we will owe but I would have had to pay custodial set up and fees equal to or greater that the penalties and tax since it was only 19K.

And right now i'm concerned that if i nab an extra $1200 a year out of this while living there that it could be the worst $1200 i've ever made.This would be a moot point if i wasn't owner occupying the unit, or if they were already paying close to market rents and i only had to increase by 5% to stay current.

Percentages vary depending on your strategy but here is generally how I use my excess cash from this portfolio: Say you have extra 1,000 bucks after paying your monthly expenses and putting aside money for reserves: I split it out in the following manner. 1) Additional rainy day fund for CAPEX and repairs. 10% 2) Additional Acquisitions budget 50% 3) Additional Debt paydown 25% 4) Stocks / Bonds/ Pay myself. 15% I definitely prescribe to the pay myself first , and have a more conservative approach when dealing with debt .

That is extra money that I could have invested else where.

Never heard of a tenant actually getting a judgment for anything approaching $2M....usually judgments are for mishandling deposits. 

If a potential tenant that passes my application process has section 8 I will usually work with them.

Every time I go to my local REI meetings, there are usually only 1 or 2 licensed agents there and everyone seems to want to network with them.

Someone, usually the title co. handling the closing for an extra fee, has to go through the process of contacting the irs, showing documentation of the sale, the amount due the person owing the lien, and get the irs to remove the lien from the property, for a partial payment of the lien.