They have almost 6 months worth of rent in savings, but their house they are selling looks like it is paid for, and estimated at $450-$500k value (redfin and the county appraisal).

Hey Pat,Thank you so much for your detailed reply, the tips and  pieces of advice you gave really resonated. 

@Lisa Eisenhauer thank you for your detailed response Lisa.my hesitancy with titan is that they are a nigerian bank. and my hesitancy with solera is that the are pretty new small bank. given how small banks that have failed in the past, i feel more comfortable with going with someone like chase. here is list from fdic of recent failures: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/resolutions/bank-failures/fai...however, since i ran into problems with chase based on what i described in this post:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1150830-bank-...i wanted to know  who i can go with. so i called solera, firstly the person who picked up transferred me to an IRA LLC bank specialist. when my call go transferred, the specialist was i guess working from home and had a crying baby i could hear. that was my first uncomfortable momemt. i don't accept that from a bank. maybe a small retail company or something.secondly, i asked her if you know how an ira llc bank account is set up and i want to make sure it's set up correctly so i have some questions i'd like to understand your process. she right away asked me who is my document provider. and i was like, what is a document provider. she asked who set up your llc and i told her i did that. she said well we usually work with document provider because it's not a typical llc and is set up differently.i assured that the my llc is not an issue, i do  have that set up properly. it is manager managed. i am the manager. my ira is the 100% owner/member of it. then she assumed that my ira is with solera. and i told no, i have it at another custodian, all i want to do at solera is to set up a bank account. and what i want to know is when you open an account at your end, in the bank account who do you put as the owner of llc. she told me well it's a business account that llc owns. and you will be the manager on the account.and i told her, yes, i already know that and that's how it is currently set up at chase. the issue i am asking about is who will be listed as the owner of the llc at your end on the bank acct.. it should be "xyz custodian fbo shaz...IRA" and it should NOT be me. she goes. llc will be the bank owner.i think i had to repeat 3 times that i am  not asking whether or not bank accout will be under llc. i am asking in filling out your paperwork for opening the bank account, does it anywhere ask who is the owner of the llc and if so, who will you put. she goes, oh we dont' mention that anywhere but if you did have your ira with us then we will have "solera bank ..custodian fbo shaz...IRA". 

The replies above provide great detail to this question, thanks everyone.

Don't charge for utilities, keep the rent at a fixed price that already accounts for estimated costs such as utilities.13. 

Estimated sale price to be $200,000 

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.The City of Detroit has 183 Neighborhoods we’ve analyzed.PM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!

If I understand correctly, you're suggesting that we should focus on the big picture rather than getting caught up in minor details?.

If anyone needs any details please message me I am open to sharing my experience.

I am an also an agent that niches specifically to STR investment properties, so happy to offer detailed insight.I love investing in short term rentals here - I have one that does over $85k gross a year, one that does over $75k gross a year.