Our goal is to transition this into a rental property within the next 5 years. 

Hello,I am getting all my property management documents and software in order before I buy my first rental property so that when I buy it will be a smooth transition, Beside the lease and application, what other documents should I have in my files so that i am prepared (pet agreement, inspection checklist etc.) .

@Mohit Arora to gain some piece of mind in this same situation, I drafted a "Holding Deposit Agreement" document that is entered between the potential tenant and I.The purpose is to use the deposit to hold the rental until the lease signing and transition this Holding Deposit to a Security Deposit once the lease is signed and all other move-in funds are collected.You can message me privately and I can send you the doc I drafted.

I've had a bunch of sales calls in November with owners wanting to transition their STR to a furnished LTR because the STRs were not performing as well as they expected, or in some cases, not covering the mortgages.  

Has anyone considered transitional housing model?

This is a little tricky but I've had a few buyers able to do this in their transition period between property 1 and 2 and qualify using @ray above.I would recommend getting on a call with @Ray to see your options as far as lending goes and then I'd be happy to take you from there and show you what you can do in this market as for house-hacks. 

I'm generally in solid C/C+ areas... ones I can see transitioning to B areas in the coming 3-5 years based on my market knowledge and proximity to developments or revitalization efforts.It's the best spot to be in Detroit IMO.

I reiterate this because I have made the lion's share of my money in real estate by investing in "up and coming" locations as they transition from borderline to popular parts of town.

It is designed to look great and work smoothly that way, even the route tracking feature works!

Plus, if you can't attend a live session, recordings are circulated afterward for your convenience.By exploring SponsorNetwork's features, you will be able to transition from being an outsider to an insider in the off-market syndication deals.I'll check it out, but I'm guessing you're sponsored by SponsorNetwork or an employee ;)