And one of the ways to control your spending is to just make it hard to spend money.

Consider the impact of this on your relationship with the person who controls your valuable asset more than you do.2.

I have a tenant in Los Angeles in a rent controlled unit which was initially rented to a husband and wife.

With the market, everything is a little bit out of control.

And, if the grass dies from something outside of your control (disease, drought, etc), do you really want to have your security deposit taken to replace the lawn? 

Sometimes I'll get an attorney and they want a contract so I put together a one page document with the relevant facts and they are happy.For everyone else I use email to confirm the details.I still have my STR insurance policy.I also have control of the thermostats and water heater via wifi.

I have come to the conclusion that anyone who went bankrupt or even lost a considerable amount of their net worth did not have enough cash reserves to service their debts. there are many ways that people run out of cash  so each time that is different, but ultimately it's the first few Dominos that start to fall because  they could not pay their creditors. 

We went through a few property managers, one stole all of the tenant's security deposits, was taken to court and lost his licenses.

AirBnb needs to look like they're doing some level of quality control, because all hotels have something in place now.

That keeps the entity 100% yours and front end branding in your control.