Question: Is it legal to deny sending them an official application if their desired move-in date is too far away?

REMINDER: Even when you make a deal with a non paying tenant to always continue the legal process in tandem.

An LLC is useful for two things: anonymity and legal protection.

Wishing you the best in your self-management journey, but remember, a good property manager can still be invaluable, especially if you’re not familiar with the legalities of property management.

Also, I am not positive it is 'legal' to use one CC to pay off another.  

I personally have $100 cash ready to buy your property right now.Second, no, the open ended listing agreement suggested by some on here is not appropriate because that would mean that you think that the agent is actually representing you - dual representation - which is not beneficial to you and should not be legal, in my opinion.  

This comes with some other ramifications around legal liability and the ability to get a mortgage on the property.The other way to fix this is to create an LLC now, and both you and your MIL contribute the current properties into the LLC, then the LLC 1031 exchanges the old properties into the new property.

But if you both want to own/control the properties it probably makes more sense to have a legal entity.

Most legal disputes are over security deposits and for small amounts.

The biggest challenge, more than handling maintenance, is managing tenant relationships and understanding the legal responsibilities.