Cut out all non-essentials and work, work, work to do this right.  

  :)Brian you were probably like me when we started this we had a big table with scissors and all the legal publications and we spent half a day cutting out our NOD's...

Normally written contracts are strictly construed, but if they are vague or ambiguous then verbal supplements are involved and you have no knowledge of what those are.I do have some words for the advice of @John Thedford ...

Take your time, cut expenses, save up money and do it yourself.    

When it comes to details around financing, regulation and taxation, much of the information is U.S.A. specific and those of us from elsewhere need to find local information sources to supplement.  

Painting is one of those things you have to enjoy doing, that's why they  charge so much, that is the one place you don't want to cut comers on.

We found dozens of unnecessary steps that we were able to cut out. 

Cut down on the damage by up charging another 100 to 200 bucks a month a get a good renter.

I've picked up a few books (The millionaire real estate investor, building wealth one house at a time, and Hold: how to find, buy and rent houses), but am only halfway through the millionaire real estate investor - I started last week, cut me some slack!

Its a daily pain in the *** dealing with those people.I'm not anywhere near where I was before the crash, but am at a point in my business where my time is worth more than squeezing every penny (or ten grand) out of every deal, and I'm perfectly willing to pay some future profit to cut down on my frustration level, especially if it cuts down on my time involved.I've also done deals with friends many times and never had much trouble, but my friendships are solid and I value relationships over money in a big way so don't sweat the small stuff and address the big stuff before it gets to be a problem.