When you can enter from a position of strength financially, the risk:reward ratio significantly changes.

We wrote into our purchase agreement that a separate septic agreement needed to be drawn up and attached to the recorded deed for all future owners which protected us and the other home owner,  and will make it easier to sell in the future with that in place. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend 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?

He's right and if it does come to that, stick to the facts, keep a record of when everything happened.

If you hire a PM, your financial account structure can be simpler.If you plan to continue purchasing rentals, I like some key accounts at the "management" level (income, opex, tax, owncp, reserve) and only have 1 checking account per property to prevent having 100 accounts and unnecessary complexity.

We took the highest month of "normal" winter usage we had records on -- people in the house, heat running at a reasonable temperature, washer/dryer running, etc.  

Each option has different implications, so choose based on your financial goals.

Their rates are good but boy, they looked at my financials and ask some funny questions such as asking for proof that I could withdraw funds from my SEP IRA account, and that I need to provide documentation to verify that  this employer sponsored retirement account allows for funds to be withdrawn, or if withdrawals could only be made in connection with the borrowers employment termination, retirement or death etc. everyday they sent me something new to answer.

@Hiyun Park only experienced investors can DIY everything in Class C Midwest areas like Detroit, Cleveland, St Louis, etc.Hopefully the info below will help you:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend 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?

While we here on BiggerPockets certainly have financial goals in mind, local populations all over the world have an opposite and opposing one.