You have to take care of your basic needs: food, clothing, shelter before you can entertain the idea of educating yourself in investments.

I do know that hotels have to pay an extra tax (something like 0.5%) because their tenants are "transient," (under 6 months), in the State of Florida and most likely other states as well.

Some investors want to know the seller has an actual legitimate hardship, and/or are looking to see if they can't get some extra cash from the seller at closing, or to issue a 5-10 promissory note to the seller to reduce the delinquency.There is also the issue of the investors requiring a lot of exceptions to offers that hold up the actual deals.

I feel like I should at least be making some cash flow, but after the mortgages are paid, PM collects her fee (8%) and any repairs,maintenance, taxes or insurance are paid, I'm left with no extra income. something seems amiss here and when I ask PM she says this is normal and to be expected the first few years of owning rental property.

Here is another food for thought: some banks allow deposits with only a person's phone number or name. 

Knowing this, I asked the owner's realtor if they could possibly end the lease this month or the following month (with me extending the closing an extra 30 days).

Some states have extra requirements when dealing with domestic violence victims.

That description of the property sounds pretty bad, but it does sound like they were able to get the bugs out of there if they ended up living in it.The chemicals are something to worry about - I'm thinking a combination of bombs and spreading a massive amount of diatomaceous earth (food grade) around the property until the rehabs are done.

A few things this has taught me Keeping a property well maintained is definitely enough to stop a tenant (me) from moving Paying for those extra finishing touches seems to not only command higher rents, but also get a higher quality of applicants (and I hope tenants) I very tightly scheduled individual showings.

I think the 4/2 had a 24K BTU (it was ~5 years ago) and required an extra drop from the utility company and a new panel.