The deposits belong to the tenant and are held by the landlord.   

it was about 55 per door, I met him on the mastermind group I belong to.

Let's face it - the owner has the deepest pockets here and an attorney will walk right pass the Section 8 lady and her crazy son to get to you.Protect yourself today and kick these folks to the curb where the trash belongs.  

If a property belongs to XYZ LLC, does it make sense to also create an SPV ( special purpose vehicle) that would be owned by XYZ LLC and transfer that building into the SPV ?

More than likely, you need to get the seller to carry for 7 years and not 5 so you have an extra 2 years to hit your goal.I would not worry about whether the tenants will be long-term or short-term as the market will decide that for you.

The only challenge experienced in this project was the seller left behind a lot of her belonging so my buyer had to hire a cleaning crew to move out all the junk, it was an unexpected expense, but was quickly resolved.

Do I tie up more capital for the lower rate since these will be long-term plays, or do I put less money down to free up more transactions?

Getting a pest inspection on older homes is always advisable and since you're concerned with bed bugs, also keep in mind to 'bomb' your moving truck the night before putting your belongings inside to move to the new home, wherever it's located.

What's crazy is that when the tenant moved in he filled every room including the living room with bookcases full of books, he has the entire basement filled with his personal belongings, it looks like he is going to live there for ten years.

I was in the military too though....so your "1 year" might be longer or shorter or who knows when.