This is due to the function of amortization, stacking your monthly payment with much more interest than principal in the early years of the loan.

They're budgeting for permit fees, inspections, potential delays, and the chance that a city inspector finds something unexpected.

They will take a fee or percentage, but it will be worth it for the education over those 3 years.

Most of these companies charge a few hundred more for that option, but if you get audited once, that will pay for that additional fee 100x over.The full engineer studies also tend to be MUUUCCH better for addressing things like partial asset dispositions in the future, since they actually went through the building and picked out what it has and what all the pieces are. 

Location, asset type, asset quality, basis, capital stack, tenant profile, lease structure, and tenant demand.

Get a sense of what their management fees are, what they handle, and how hands‑off you want to be.

You’ll pay a leasing fee, but you get to watch the pros in action and soak up the process without learning everything the hard way.Here are a few things to ask and study while they do their thing:How they market the property and what channels actually work in your areaHow they screen tenants and what their screening criteria is (credit, income, rental history, etc.)What lease documents and addenda they useHow they handle deposits, move in condition documentation, and lease enforcementHow they spot property code or safety issues before they become problemsTreat it like a paid internship.

Some creative financing I used too that may be an option for some others - my company offers 401k Loans for up to 50% or 50k, with no fees and interest gets paid back to yourself.

When we consider the home payment to the landlord, taxes, insurance, HOA fees, maintenance and property management, we figured we'd have a better chance of generating cash flow going this route.Currently we're using Zillow and Rentometer to determine what we could potentially rent out the place for which as of the time of this post would be around $2300-$2400 per month for our 2 bed 2 1/2 bath townhome.

Fair housing issues, using the wrong lease, inconsistent screening, missing insurance requirements, poor documentation at move in… those mistakes can get expensive fast.Pay the leasing fee once and watch how the pros do it.