Wookie, in your situation I'd likely look for a one bedroom high rise condo in downtown that caters to the young professionals market, sort-of the "starter exec" bracket.
Starting small makes it easy to manage, and if you pick'em right a condo in good shape is a LOT easier to maintain (read: maintenance-free) than being the landlord for a duplex or a house. Perfect for rookie landlords who are not particularly handy.
Like others have mentioned, build the condo fees into the rent, it's a lot easier for the tenant to swallow than breaking them down. Tenants want to pay the rent and forget about everything else, kinda like condo dwellers who like the "pay it & forget it" lifestyle. Telling your tenant he's paying $1400 a month for heat, water, secure underground parking, an exercise room, swimming pool, rec room, party room, theatre room, sauna, conciege etc. etc. is a whole lot more appealing than telling him the rent is $1100 and your condo fees for all that stuff is an extra $300.
PM me if you'd like more extensive help on this subject.
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