I'm about a block away from Solano so hopefully the (potential) rent would cover my expenses...especially the property tax!

Total taxes - $10,110  slightly different then pro formaInsurance:  on an individual basis, home owners for each unit is $70/month x 12 x 10 = $8400.  

The investors we support typically are buying 3/2 or 2/2 block homes with no pool (for liability reasons).These are HUD houses, and usually only need a light to medium rehab.In the area you described, the rental market is strong, just make sure you have a good screening process.

I thought the pms is used to coordinate the pricing and calendars of all the sites and your website so that you don't have to individually update each one every time you get a new booking or want to dynamically change prices across all the sites?

A few ideas:1)You could freelance to help REI companies or individuals stand up their company websites in exchange for money and/or REI mentoring.2)You could stand up a "We buy houses for cash" type website, use some SEO and other developer tricks to drive traffic there, and use it as your primary marketing channel for lead generation.

There was not poorer performance simply because a property was structured as a TIC or wholly owned by one individual.  

There is a distressed 1bd/1ba duplex on the same block as 2 homes I'm getting.  

This portfolio consists of both my own properties held by my business as well as properties under our management owned by other entities and individuals.  

Found a local investor who was very eager to buy right on that very block.

When dealing with individual sellers, the most important thing is their motivation.