Sit down and write out your monthly expenses and list extras like insurance that you'd have to pay were you not employed. 

I think there's more to consider than just money, to include your existing tenants' right to quiet enjoyment.

I will try to find a mentor or maybe a group who will guide me along, I have a list source pulled, but it's currently sitting not doing anything.

(as you can see the first bullet is not the type of tenant we dream of and the second 2 are short term ones generally which do not help your bottom line.)I think this in a nutshell explains why many out of state investors come in hoping to make money on their rental and are then sadly disappointed when it sits vacant for long periods of time.  

But for the duration of our relationship, that money is sitting in their bank account earning interest for them not me.Is this possible?

I've been working for a couple years now to build a rental property business account with money in it to prepare for a new investment business and our accountant is saying it would count against us since it's cash sitting there. 

@Richie@Richie Thomas WOW, you have taken me from sitting in the back of the classroom to right smack dab into the front row.  

A policy like this doesn’t sit well with me.

We are disciplined and feel we could use that cash better than letting the buffer sit and doing nothing.

What would someone ask for when sitting down with a lender in my circumstance?