Glad to be on board!

Or limitations on who you can rent to or a requirement for HOA board approval for anything you do or any tenants you want to rent to.

Very tough times right now in the rental business.I am one of the few landlords I know with 100% occup. right now but I had to pay for it, reduced all my rents 10% across the board to keep my good tenants, and my last vacancy took 5 months to fill and I had to drop my rent 20% from the previous lease to fill it.Everywhere I look are for rent and for sale signs and the tenant quality had degraded tremendously .. credit ratings, background checks etc, which equates to higher damages for landlords and less ability to collect on those expenses .. experience speaking there..Taking on a rental property for a flip is a dangerous game unless you can fully afford to fund the payments for a LONG time and still make a better profit then the risk free rate of return on cash.One bad tenant, not paying, damages, legal problems, and you could be looking a total loss of investment.. which could be considerable to get a mortgage these days.That said:Property Taxes, Insurance costs, upfront renovation costsHouse Age < 10 years preferredRoof Age < 10 year < 5 years preferredInsulation QualityElectrical system ageHeating/Cooling System Age < 10 years < 5 years preferredFloors (Carpets are a hole you throw money into), tile preferredKitchen and Baths (Expensive renovations)You have to be able to accept rental payments up to 20% below the market to get a good tenant and credit and background checks are mandatory .. so longer empty periods are expected right now.Personally, I think this is a great time to begin to build a rental business as properties are available well below rebuilding costsand hence will appreciate but OJT Landlord training will be expensive ESPECIALLY NOW!

@Chinmay J.I find myself in the same boat as you (especially with Cleveland properties and the high taxes) so I'd be interested to see what kind of posts come through on the board for this one.

The last meeting was dominated by a board member who has a "frat house" operating down the street and I think there is risk the rules get even tighter if hosts and managers stop showing up to the meetings. 

First of all....Don't worry about it, most investors have the same problems (and persuading the wife to come on-board is one of the common one).I can provide couple of tips that will ease the process:1.

I learned a lot by managing my units myself, but as I grow I'm ready to scale and the only way to do that is to hire a PM or bring someone on board as an employee to help manage. 

That being said, I would absolutely get your current tenants on board and make sure those existing leases are up-to-date, and that any leases you put in place for the garages are iron-clad as well.

Also you can put it on a corporate job board and get a tenant rather quickly if it was furnished.

It spring boarded my real estate investing.