These repairs were done without city permits or approvals, without using licensed contractors, and consisted of the slab foundations being cut, removal of dirt, and filling it back in without compaction.I guess I can't blame him for attempting to pull one over on me, after all, I am a stupid investor from CA with money pouring out of my ears just wanting to place it anywhere I can!!

What you do have here that a lot of markets don't is pretty consistent appreciation in both values and rents.  

You will also have a lot more exposure to deals WHEN you are consistently talking real estate.

They communicated with the closing agents for both deals and everything was fine.

@Sam McClellan The Pro's... you get your place inspected once a year which keeps you and your tenant on top off things and most if not all of the rent is paid consistently by the government.The Con's... most landlords think they don't need to properly screen Section 8 tenants, for some reason they think the government has already screened them and this is far from correct.Screening is highly, highly important, with or without Section 8... that's the key!

Let me explain:Sustained positive cash flowSustained positive cash flow means that rent consistently exceeds the total recurring costs.

I only had one applicant similar to this, and previous tax returns showed less than half what she said she was making, and then when she provided "current financial statements" to back up that she's doing better now - it consisted of a piece of paper with "Income" written at the top, months down the side, and a dollar amount. 

I think it's partially a personality thing and partially just a matter of what kind of communicator you are. 

You must be very, very careful about using a friend who can accept your identification, communicate with the title company, etc. 

, was there good communication?