A common complaint I hear is how they feel like there property is treated as just a number or they didn't properly screen tenants and/or monitor the property and now they have to repair a trashed rental squeezing all the profits they hoped to gain.  

Pull all 3 credit reports for free thru annualcreditreport.com..Dispute any errors..I pull 1 report every quarter so, essentially I'm monitoring it for Free.  

When you say that you will be the energy provider to the building, how are you planning on hooking your system into the grid and monitoring how much you supply to the tenants?

I will also say that, you may want to use your own mailing service because you can't monitor any mailing company that your hired to send out your postcards! 

Contractors seem to like to choose which jobs they tackle on their time line and according to how they feel.By you segmenting the job you control which items get done first and you can monitor the craftsmanship and attention to detail of the work completed.You learn which contractors to use where in the future. 

@Blake King and anyone else monitoring the thread!

Ive been passively monitoring BP for a long time.

Even if you invest in stocks (usually considered a very passive place to invest), you have to re-balance your portfolio, monitor large trends, check news stories, look at financial statements, listen to shareholder meetings, etc. etc.In this case, if your properties are under an even reasonable property management company, you will be in a situation where your income is more or less "passive".  

Here are the splashy additions you shouldn’t do:Swimming pool: Your home’s crown jewel is an eyesore in the winter, needs constant chlorine monitoring in the summer and usually needs to be closed in by a fence for safety.

(Which, obviously major lenders do not let happen as they monitor the taxes if the account/loan is not impounded.)I concentrate on doing Loan Modifications for distressed owners, and at times we need to do a sale/short sale and we can get the IRS lien removed, other times no.