Thanks for the nugget on the difficulty of multi family in the burbs as well.

Most partnerships will have issues at some point (and often that point is sooner than you'd think), and if starting a real estate investing business isn't hard enough, adding in the extra difficulty of working with a partner will only make it tougher.Many new investors think, "I need someone to keep me motivated and accountable." 

I'm sure a small local bank could get this done for you without much difficulty.  

The difficulties are those with verbal lease or dated lease.

These regulations include rent control, cannot distinguish source of income, difficulty doing evictions, etc. 

While it is possible to create difficulties by being too hands on, the somewhat alarmist tone you are sounding is just that, alarmist.  

But I know that will be difficult, I will be going to my first Real Estate Investors and Managers Meeting in the middle of September to meet and network to learn about the ins and out of the rental management business and hopefully meet some great people!

When you're ready to bump up to higher returns with slightly more difficulty, look into real estate syndications.

"My ROI is 80%"... and then you come to find out that it's true but... that is really only $100/mo. or less in actual cash-flow OR they tout high cash-flow but fail to tell you all the economic vacancy they experience, the difficulty with local government and the difficulty in dealing with the lower grade of tenant. 

Since I am self employed this was a little difficult. I