New landlord questions

[Bryan Petrinec]

I am in the process of closing on my first duplex and about to become a landlord.  I have read the book on managing rental properties, read many posts and blogs and for the most part, I am at least armed to handle the basic stuff when it comes up.  I do have a couple of questions that I am looking for guidance on that I havent seen mentioned.

Re-key when landlords change?  I know to re-key when tenants turn over, but haven't seen anything mentioned about when you by a rental. My instinct says to wait until the tenants turn over and not worry about re-keying when I purchase.  What have you done?

One of my inherited tenants has been there for a number of years and has been a model tenant.  Paid rent on time, no major issues, and I hope that remains the case going forward.  My issues is that they do not speak English and I do not speak Spanish, at least not enough to past hello and thank you.  The leases are in English and there are not any notes about communication issues.  The property is currently managed by a property management company, but I intend to self manage.  As long as there are no emergencies, communicating in writing can be primarily done through Google translate with review from a Spanish speaking friend who is willing to help.  My concern is for times where prompt communication is needed (emergencies, past due rents, issues with violations of the lease etc.)  Besides getting a property mgmt company that is bilingual, what solutions have you found to manage this?  

Hiring a bilingual PM would be too costly for this property.  Is there a PM-Lite version out there that can be used just for communications when needed?  

Thanks in advance.