I have seen many investors fail here because they only have 1 or 2 properties and when the downturns happen it kills them,  So you are going to need more money and more properties to balance out the ups and downs.Investing takes time, it doesn't happen overnight, and I think people fail to keep with it when it doesn't happen immediately.  

If you allow service dog, you sure need to pay a deposit , application fee and monthly pet rent correct?

Our pet deposit is non-refundable which is what I generally would recommend (assuming your state and local laws allow that).

No one pulled a payoff to confirm the balance or looked at the latest statements before closing? 

For example if you sold on year 1 on a 5 year prepayment penalty, the lender would hit you with 5% of the principal balance. 

I have about 10-20 with a $4,000 balance now on a $1000 month rent, more with 2 months balance...

No ghosting allowed here!

My core investing philosophy is pretty simple, and has done very well across almost two decades and numerous cities:1) Invest in cities with population (and job) growth2) Invest in parts of the city where household income is near the median (or slightly below)3) Invest in properties that provide cash flow from day 1 Thank you for sharing that. 

Separate accounts per property incurs a lot of overhead, such as minimum balances or fees for missing the minimum.I use separate accounts for each tenant's security deposits.

A friend of mine in Austin once negotiated a partial buy back option when the seller realized they might want back in if the market soared.. from what I read in Bloomberg, that approach can work well if both sides trust each other.If the tenants’ rent covers your carrying costs, that’s a nice cushion, but you still need to clarify that buy back clause.