If you wish to buy rentals using your retirement funds you simply need a self-directed IRA (or Checkbook IRA if you wish to have more control). 

So, I would simply make it about paying what they owe.

Are most landlords/PMs not contacting employers and instead simply trusting the paystubs provided?

I have seen more than a few syndicators underwrite real estate taxes to 80% of purchase price, which this equates to, presumably based on a tax consultants recommendation.Put simply: when the parties disclose the value of the real estate being transferred, they put own 80% of actual purchase price, with the remaining 20% likely going to goodwill or other intangible assets.

Both buyer and listing agent commissions will need to be agreed to by the buyer and seller as part of the purchase agreement (not simply disclosed after the fact, like under previous rules in most states).When you are a buyer, and want to view an MLS listed home, you will have to sign an agreement.

At that point, if your tenant is not willing to renew,  you simply advise the tenant that you will not be renewing their lease, and provide them a move-out date by which they must vacate the property.  

Nearly everyone who tells you they're going to do a bunch of deals and therefore deserve a discount before they've ever closed anything, is simply full of ****.Flippers we actually charge more money than our going rate, because of the increased workload, and the liability.

As much as I'd love to be in the straight B class, living in SoCal and wanting my first purchase to be close I simply cannot make my first investment in a B from what I can tell so far.

I am a new multifamily investor (5-20 units) along the Front Range specifically Boulder and Jefferson Counties and am having the same issues when it comes to getting quotes.Brokers and agents have told me that some areas near us are simply uninsurable now.Most owners that I meet have are still in policies from before the fire.What have you learned in the two months since posting this?

I would have simply said they the ceiling fan stays when they move out as its an upgrade and a light fixture is a "fixture" aka once attached to real estate it legally becomes part of the real estate and YOUR (the landlord's) property.