@Ramsey HowardIf you are worried about tying up you LOC in one transaction when buying a rental, you should look into delayed financing.  

If you hire a management company they handle all the legal issues and screen the tenant for you and charge a minimal fee, that varies by location so discuss this with them.

Fast forward a bit… We both decided to use the same realtor as we had heard of horror stories of one party’s realtor messing up the whole thing and causing delays.

So it is only worth it to me to build something if I have minimal cash exposure.

They are fantastic for allowing me to be hands-off, my headaches are minimal, and I can rely on other people's expertise....expertise I'd never have (or want) on my own.So, I'm a vote for them!

The effect of not getting everything just-so is delay, delay and more delays.In Calif, an uncontested Unlawful Detainer (read eviction) is about $500 and can be done in 21 days. 

negativity in this world is far more common than an honest politician. when you are swimming up stream, you are going to find more hurdles and pitfalls than if you swan downstream. going downstream is easy, any idiot can do it. its those of us that swim upstream that have the courage and foresight to reach our goals. if all you wanted to do is just exist and go about life until you are dead, well, then follow the crowd and swim downstream. pretty soon you will find yourself just as unhappy and negative as they are, but comfortable because you are barely eeking out an existence with minimal work involved. sounds just a tad bit boring to me. those of us who are willing to swim upstream meet challenges, hurdles and negativity along the way, but we also have the biggest stories to tell because we have had some damn great adventures along the way. its not the reaching the goal that gives you the stories to tell, its the journey getting there. you can have the thrill of achieving your goal without the hell to go thru in getting there. that hell gives you some incredible stories to tell along the way, and if you wanna try it again, well, now you know what to expect along the way and the next journey won't be quite so hard. let those little people sit in their cubicles along their way and have nothing to show or tell about it in the end. i would rather have the journey to talk about when i get to my goals. 

The guy was very nice and mostly professional, except he just kept delaying my job because he was busy on other projects and mine was small.

Let's say the girlfriend doesn't work, or makes minimal income--do you allow them to move in as long as their total "household" income meets the minimum standards, or do you require them to both earn enough income on their own to quality?

I understand the concepts of due diligence and delayed gratification, and expect the greatest success to come through educated trial and error.