I am a fan of utilizing equity in existing real estate owned to build the rental portfolio though at the beginning, rather than just relying on money saved alone.  

Listen to the BiggerPockets podcast for expert advice, read books like "The Book on Rental Property Investing" and "Set for Life" by Scott Trench, and join local real estate investing groups or meetups.

Podcasts, books, and forums like BiggerPockets were invaluable, and when the right deal came along, I leaped and you can too!

(PS I'm sure you experienced folks have your contractors in line already but it never hurts to add another trusted one to the phone book, I'd love to send over our business cards and talk about how we could be of assistance to your team) Again thank you all for the help - Brennan 

It's a great way to give them a better sense of the space, especially if they're on the fence about booking.

Check out the book "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene.

I'm a fan of always making tenants pay utilities.

Personally, I am a big fan of the "alternative" storage systems such as water pumps, sand etc. because the battery method is honestly not all that efficient on a cost to operate measure. 

Long time BP fan, first time poster.

You're better off reading the BiggerPockets forms getting a couple of books worth 100 bucks total and going from there.