Something I'm recognizing is how personal the decision is to form an LLC, increase insurance protection or some combination of the two. 

I made a lot of money in that time period but recognize it was luck not brains.

I've received confirmation from the city zoning department that my property is zoning M-1 (light industrial) however the duplex is in legal standing per the City and recognized "as-is".

It’s good that you’re starting to recognize there may be better opportunities out there.

Richard sourced the opportunity through local market activity and recognized the potential quickly.

I will start feeling really good about this manager if the he or she is shrewd enough to recognize this problem might have a simple fix, and skilled enough through experience to walk the tenant through the process of relighting a pilot light.

I recognize there are some outstanding flippers in this market but it was a competitive offer and anyone beating it with HML financing would have tight profit even if they were outstanding flippers.The selling agent stated they had 5 offers higher than ours.  

There are a lot of full-blown property management software systems out there with accounting modals (Builduim, Doorloop, Rentred, to name a few) but they do a lot of other things besides accounting, bookkeeping, and taxes so not the same thing as QBO.QBO has a few cheaper competitors Stessa & Digb.com that are specifically set up out of the box for real estate investors (e.g. income/expenses categories are things you'd recognize like repairs, appraisal, etc.) and there is no need to set up a separate class for each of your properties since the portfolio already includes these.

If you will learn some of the basics such as what the values of the type of properties that you are interested in your area are, then you can start to recognize a good deal.  

That successful RE investor supposedly had recognized the lady as being exceptional and sure to succeed.