You will always have a mortgage payment eventually, pay interest, insurance, water/sewer, save for your reserves such as vacancies, cap ex, and repairs, and of course, can't forget property management if you are not planning to manage them yourself.

Would it be in the stock market that you and I can't control, giving your money to the insurance company and have your earnings eroded by high commissions or invest in alternative asset such as real estate (BTW, you don't have to be the owner of physical real estate, you can be a private lender so your loan is secured by real estate, you can buy tax lien, invest in a syndication, private placement or note fund).

I bought the property in my name and made sure to get insurance. 

Now there are problems and you will need to protect yourself and a good insurance person is needed too.7) NEVER, NEVER buy a property that doesn't cash flow when and for how much your plan states.

I have a question about closing costs...I've reached out to 4 lenders and secured pre-approvals with each to compare their rates, fees, etc.For a 25% down payment with 1 point on a $200,000 investment property, they're estimating closing costs between $7000 and $8000 (which includes prepaids, insurance, etc.). 

After taxes and insurance, we keep about 5,000 a yr.

Think about an insurance company or pension plan.

@Isaac Black Could be a good deal indeed assuming actual owner is current on tax , insurance, hoa and you can pay off the entire note.

These can include existing mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, utilities, HOA fees, etc that occurs during the Rehab period and up until the property is fully rented.  

The real estate attorney who drew up the contract for the sale included that the buyer had to acquire insurance on the property and keep it until the final payment was made.