And by year 3 our Net Worth is about even, but by year 5 our Net Worth is 30% higher in Plan 2 taking into account 2% appreciation and conservative debt pay down...

Started a bank account, ein number, changed all the expenses to that account, refinanced property into the LLC etc.I am the registered agent.

The difference in your bank account balance between paying a property manager 11.67% (10% of gross rents plus 20% lease fee) and managing the property yourself when buying one 20% down rental property (in Northern Colorado) over 40 years is:If you invest the difference in the stock market and could get 8%, the difference becomes:If you're saving for a second purchase, it delays when you can buy that second property which further compounds the effect of property management fees on your overall net worth.And doing the full Nomad investing model, it is pretty significant differences.I am going to write a whole book about the impact on various investing scenarios.

We had a first great meet-up today in Eden Prairie with Account Closed and one other gentleman to discuss our goals, needs, and next steps.We are doing it again next month.Hit me up if you'd like to join.No pitch, no cover - lunch and learns!

I've heard that setting up appointments with multiple contractors is smart to account for no shows.

Account Closed, yeah but as you pointed out, some of us do actually know how to ride litre bikes and use them to our advantage.

Account Closed, thanks for your input, very valuable. as for the neighbor it was sorted out over a walkway chat

Certain counties provide a homestead exemption which lowers the base on which they apply their property tax rate to.If the property taxes are high in the area - you have to account for that when you make a decision to have an investment property in the area or not.Areas with high property taxes likely also have higher rents.If you still can't make the numbers work - You may want to look for another area to invest in.NYC and some surrounding areas(such as hoboken) are hard to find cash-flowing properties.

Would be great to find accountant familiar with real estate and how can maximize business set-up as well as tax benefits for real estate investing. 

I would assume you would escrow 3 months of this as well to your escrow account to be paid out annually be your lender....Hope this helps, maybe the confusion is you did not realize that in edition to the escrow funding you needed to pay homeowners and flood premiums in full?