When they do, they are typically covered by insurance and settled outside of court.The odds of a landlord being sued for a large enough amount that it eats up their insurance, the equity in the investment, and their personal assets is almost non-existent.

For costs, you’ll typically need to budget for title insurance (usually around 0.5%-1% of the purchase price), attorney fees (varies but can range from $500-$2,000 depending on the complexity), and closing costs (might include recording fees, escrow fees, and other admin costs—generally $500-$2,000).

To what extent does landscaping typically add value to a property for the purposes of appraisal and re-financing, compared to other improvements? 

@Joy McQuearyRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Investors typically want a steal of a deal, so even 25% off is typically not enough for me to even stop....50% off market value starts to get interesting. 

Cutting to the meat of the situation, I came across a property that looked like a fixer upper, typical investment grade property.

Typically they want good credit score, landlord experience, and 20% down.You can get ones that will either use current rents OR market rents.

VA loans are typically meant for individual borrowers, not businesses or entities.

Quote from @Chas Lumley: Quote from @Caleb Brown: Getting leases is typically done once under contract, I always have verbiage that leases will be reviewed by buyer within the inspection contingency.

I generally rule out most single family homes as viable rentals, as prices are pretty high relative to rents, so aside from some downtown neighborhoods, typically you do not find large areas of single family rental neighborhoods (a median sale price on a 3 bed, 2 bath home so far this year in Dane County on MLS sales data is at $430k).