(I will let you draw your own conclusions about my parents' finances given that they gave me a $150k down payment without much of a conversation about it.)At the end of the day, I lost money on the property from owning and operating it, and my parents made a modest profit from the sale.

However, when I have conversations with perhaps the vast majority of other people in my friends group, and certainly in recesses of internet forums, subreddits, and facebook groups, the prevailing consensus is that I am crazy. 

I'm taking my own advice and I sent our discussion to my CPA.

I still manage my own properties myself today and have a decent structure in place for that.

Without that you can be sued personally for any issue within it on your str.Its much harder for people to pierce the corporate vail and sue you personally if your property is owned and managed in a LLC .Financing is one of the only drawbacks as it is a commercial process and banks usually like to see 3 years of a decent tax return.We have 19 properties and all are in an LLC and in fact we only hold 2-4 properties in each LLC (all are owned by one parent company and done in one flow through parent company)to even further shield the liability that may/can occur on a property.There is no doubt you are exposed to higher risk on many fronts if an investment property is held personally.

I went on the States website where they sell state owned properties, I found a +19ac with an old Prison that was built in 1994.

I can do it on my own. 

That 2.7% rate is pretty special...If I were in your shoes, it would depend on what I could leverage that 200k into out of state.There is ample opportunity here in KC (my market...I work as a Realtor here and own 3 SFR as investments).

Keep in mind all PM firms will have their own procedures and all clients will have their own expectations.

Going back to ordinary and necessary - if you own just one or two properties and spend thousands on your clothing with your logo on it - may be a bit of a stretch!