I’m looking for some guidance on my next steps toward achieving financial freedom through real estate.My long-term goal is to acquire enough rental properties to secure my financial future.

Landlord can require tenants to be responsible for separately metered utilities, so can avoid waste.Landlord can get annual small increases in rent.NegativesMost of us don’t treat something we get for free the same way we treat something we’ve worked hard to obtain.S8 applicants claim “broke” and don’t like to pay application feesSame goes for security depositsS8 tenants, in our experience, tend to cause more property damage than non-S8 tenants. - Make sure you get a security deposit and perhaps do a surprise inspection of their current home.S8 requires an inspection (mostly health & safety) before approving a lease and then annually thereafter. - Not something most landlords taking care of their properties have to worry about.There are limits to clauses they allow in your lease.

@Joe S. over 2.5M of my funds are sitting in another lenders bank who shouldn’t have it and I have no security interest in the property that was paid off.

A good tenant usually wants security and I want "good" tenants. 2.

The property is yours to secure and use if necessary.

The vast majority of lawsuits against Landlords are for wrongful eviction, security deposit disputes, and Fair Housing Violations.

Laminate countertops can hold up pretty well and if damaged, will need to come out of the security deposit - lower cost product, so a larger percent of it gets paid for if damaged. 

It will depend on the amount of security you are offering, the attractiveness of the interest rate, and your ability to raise cash, among other things.

If the 10 year treasury is at 5% which is guaranteed, investors will want a risk premium for the mortgage backed security which here is a great article on it. 

Assuming it's written in your management agreement somewhere that states the owners are current on all financial responsibilities related to the property, does anyone require them to actually provide a current mortgage statement, HOA payment record, taxes paid, etc..... at least at the time of the original management agreement signing.Recently had a new owner sign the agreement, only to find out after we had secured a new tenant for them, that they were in financial distress to say the least (inquiring about bankruptcy) .