One thing to remember, is even if you find the best property management company in the world, you will still need to be involved in the asset management..it is not a 100% passive vehicle as many people think.

Account Closed - Hi Roger - curious to see if you went ahead with the condotel purchase?

Buy something where you can do a quick, but good flip, and get it finished well ahead of the market slow down for the fall.

Say you have $500k in capital improvements to get there, then go ahead and offer a bit under a million for it.

So net, as a family unit, economically the investor says they are $86k - $62.5k = $23.5k ahead.

As others said, do your homework ahead of time.  

Keep that in mind and realize it ahead of time, understanding this won't solve the problem but it will help you deal with it.You have made a great start.

Most lenders will give you an amortization schedule ahead of closing.

You could meet some interesting people like that too....Note - I'm not recommending this for everyone, it may not even be legal, but it's a good way to get ahead of people trying to call their Realtors to see the place.....I could see it and make an offer before their Realtor even returned their call.... 

When I purchased I went ahead and imrpoved some of the exterior, new flooring, appliances, etc.