Critical for a newbie buyer for the education alone, plus it’s an obvious choice to protect your investment if rehab assessments are not your specialty.Property mgrs have their standard monthly fees (usually 7–12%), but they also have a placement fee for new tenants (usually 50–75% of 1st months rent).

I've been reading everything I can and have listened to maybe a dozen relevant podcasts so far.I'm in my mid thirties and have a full time job, and my goal is to invest in 10-15 buy & holds over the next 15 years, which would allow me to step away from my full-time job by then.  

Prior assessments, owners, tax info, foreclosure details may all be available online.

Now that same family member owns half a dozen houses of his own and is enjoying a much better retirement because of it.Point is, maybe you just need to "show" them how you can make money as opposed to "telling" them.Or, maybe help educate them on what exactly you want to do. 

Crunch your numbers for several different scenarios to assess how volatile a deal might be. 

The assessed value must be way off.

Here is the listing.http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3533-Aristotle-Ave-Orlando-FL-32826/2122808717_zpid/also it says it needs a little fixing, but I am pretty handy and will be going to visit Orlando at the end of this month so I could possibly check it out and better assess what problems are there that need to be fixed.Thanks in advance for the advice!

Not assessing the late fees tells your tenant she can pay whenever is convenient.

Freezing pipes etc and assess the situation.If they moved out, post a notice and atore their stuff for 30 days.Check local statues of course first.

You should be able to apply market rates and get a quick assessment from an asking price if the place is really for sale or is just listed, if it seems like something to explore, call, make an appoint, get the representations, consider again, go look, do your due diligence, make an offer.Most sellers don't give financials until they see they have a qualified buyer, they don't dump their personal financials out to the public