One of the things that has held me back has been some of the overwhelmingly negative feedback I receive from investors re: the lack of control that you have with property managers.

The last thing you want is to owe your Step dad his money and be in negative cash flow.

It seems to me that even given the potentially negative cash flows, this would be profitable - not to mention the hands on experience. 

I want to expand the master bathroom shower, but if I do I will be reducing the guest bathroom size. Is that a good idea or should I just keep it the same? Will it reduce some value, scare off potential buyers?

I have to buy with 30% down minimum and still be cash negative, manage the tenant and wait for 2-3 years to sell assuming I am going to sell .

or do i have to wait for the negative credit card histories (ie, 180+ days late before closed) to drop off my credit record more completely in like 7yrs or whatever the current cutoff is?

I recall seeing an article about one of those places closing down here in the next few years, do you think it will have a negative impact on the rental market?

  :)  I know in my case that a great living can be made buying properties with a negative cashflow. 

The tenant's rent covers the mortgage and HOA payments, but leaves us with negative cash flow anytime we make any improvements or have other expenses.

William there are two ways you can help this seller using leases and optionsYou have to ask yourself whether not the property is going to appreciate overtimeIf you feel it's not going to appreciate, you need to get a price below the market today on your option with the seller,  if you going to do a sandwich lease option and stay in the middleIf you going to do a lease option assignment where you lease with an option from the seller and assign thevdeal to a buyer for fee, it  doesn't matter what the price is as long as the price is today's value or lessWhen I talk to sellers I don't talk about lease is an option, I first go through three columns landscape in a yellow legal pad,  and show them the basics of the choices: 1) sell with an agent and pay the customary costs include sellers concessions, agents commissions, closing costs, vacant house holding costs, etc.The first column it's important to go through an example of their house value; what ever  the fair market value is, do that exercise so that the seller truly understands he's going to net a lot less money selling agent than ur solution2) Second solution entails leasing out with the property manager, and you go through the cost to lease it out and also the cost to repair and sometimes property managers tack on other costs like padding maintenance costsThen I talk about the risks involved with leasing it to an unproven tenant, and then having to evict the tenant, lost rent for 6 to 8 weeks, clean the house, remarket and screen the new tenant, etc.Before I go through my solution, I say a "what if statement" that is something like this:Before I say the "what if statement" it's important you understand that I am using "negative phrasing" here, and ""appeal to a higher authority" which works a lot in terms deals like lease options, sub 2, and wrap purchasesHere goes.."