It's not horrible every time, but I would estimate 1 out of 20 rental situation resulted in a bad tenant, case manager, accounting errors, etc.

Property managers that over promise, work not fully completed to satisfaction, things not being installed correctly, etc.

The biggest key will be your Property Manager, Lender and Realtor/Agent to find you the deals. 

Hello All,
New Member here. I'm happy to be associating with like minded people.

Thanks,
Averil 

Tenants would have to refill cards at the management office.

We have our bookkeeping covered for now through our property management.

B grade property walks are attended by my children to run around and tell me which bedrooms they would pick if it was their home.43605, 43608, 43609 are the popular zipcodes for bottom-budget value purchases...I manage a ton in these areas and my personal portfolio contained over 40 43608 properties at the peak. 20% of these properties will be crazy money earners, 20% will be astounding money pits, and 60% will fare average.I have evolved into the nicer 43612/43613 for my personal portfolio and find the properties earn consistently and far smoother than my 43608 houses. ($80k renting for $1200 vs $40k renting for $800 multiplied by the ratio above vs boring consistency of the nicer area) Oh and I have zero excitement for apartments.

Hi Steve,You make good money, but could use a little better money management if you are going to start investing in real estate.

I would manage the property.WHAT am i not thinking of, or considering?

First, that it takes a ton of work to find good deals on rental properties, and to manage them profitably on an ongoing basis (even if you hire a property manager).