@Greg Wilding I have a home rented out in Saratoga Springs that we turned in to a duplex type of arrangement.

It's important that you arrange terms that you know you'll be able to handle, because nobody wants to have tough conversations with family about money.

TIA (1) Maintaining correspondence with tenants.(2) Placing ads to fill vacancies.(3) Collecting rent.(4) Checking the credit of potential tenants.(5) Visiting the properties.(6) Working on financial statements for the rental activities.(7) Arranging for eviction of tenants.(8) Visiting the properties.(9) Arranging for and supervising repairs to the property and such ...An individual's work as an investor for the individual's own use isn’t participation unless the individual is directly involved in day-to-day management or operations.Work done as an investor includes(1)studying and reviewing financial statements or reports on operations of the activity,(2)preparing or compiling summaries or analyses of the activity's finances or operations for the individual'sown use, and(3)monitoring the finances or operations of the activity [Temp.

For example lawn care I would put on tenants since they live on site, believe it or not many tenants enjoy taking care of the lawn and if they don't they simple arrange for landscaper to come.

Mike's suggestion is an old bank arrangement that HMLs should look at, but instead of escrowing money it might be cleaner in some states to assign a CD.

I know an investor with more than 200 doors in Detroit, I simply asked him “would you be open to have an arrangement to introduce your local people in Detroit” he said...well I am done I am not going to buy any more properties.

She is all excited and we were arranging to put an offer in on one (after doing an analysis on cash flow) but found out we had to have 25% down on vacation homes in FL.

Texas, drop money down and take an option, lease it and move in, get your stuff together and pull the trigger.Better, buy sub-to any liens for as long as you can or arrange financing after a year so that you are in a refinance situation and pay the seller off.Seller financing if there is no underlying mortgage, cash down, sweeten with other collateral if you have to.If you can get your stuff together in a timely manner, as mentioned do a standard contract with a future closing and drop money down, get possession prior to closing with a rental amount based on the unpaid balance. :)

As mentioned above, I've had many times where I've told the tenants that this arrangement doesn't seem to be working out, would you like to leave? 

I would certainly at the very least get a property manager, the idea of using a resident manager is also one that has had success but I would make sure you really trust, think of them essentially as a partner in your business seen as their choices and decisions directly impact your business and investment (pick someone that is responsible) another part of your team I think would be vital to your success is a handyman that you trust, someone that can handle small repairs quickly and be trustworthy and knowledgeable enough to know when the task is outside their ability and can let you know, the manager know to contact an actual specialized contractor or if you trust them enough allow them to arrange and coordinate the hiring of contractors.Obviously I would definitely consult with an attorney and get a contract drafted up for each of the people on your team so there is no questions as to who is responsible for what.