This baloney with the property manager disagreeing with the plumber's rate and all of you having team shouting matches with the plumber's wife -- this is all baby-talk baloney.

I am still in the baby stages of REI (no deals yet), but am interested in starting in Detroit.

They are a single family income and she is pregnant with baby #4. 

They'll blow their money on booze, vaping, Rx drugs legal or otherwise, fast foods, a couple of 55inch TV's, monthly cell phone & cable TV bills etc but have no concept of a Landlords property taxes going up to fund wasteful medicare, baby momma benefits, HEAP, food stamps etc etc.

Because of that, while they're at work paying for their house and their junk, you and your wife can be in your living room with your baby, writing BP forum posts at 3:10pm on a Wednesday, because neither of you need a 9-5 job anymore since you have a multi-million dollar portfolio working for you (true story, its our story) .To answer your down payment question, there are two reasons NOT to put 20% down on a property - you can't afford it, or you can but want to use more leverage to invest in more properties.