Any other potential expense or longer vacancy would push it negative.You are fortunate to have not had any large expenses yet and I hope that lasts as long as possible for you.

Don't go more than 12m lease, and even consider a 6m to test the waters, though they will push back because it doesn't given them enough runway to buy the furniture and get runway.If your PM is going to be managing them, make sure that they are just VERY diligent on collecting timely rent and get agreement to do quarterly (or so) walkthroughs/inspections to make sure the home truly is being maintained.

We've had really good bang for buck value with Zumper as far as ILS goes.We also bought a matterport camera and create a virtual tour of each available rental which creates a nice interactive way for prospective tenants to see a space and get an idea for its layout before touring.We use Appfolio for management software and it pushes the listings automatically out to any ILS who will listen which has been a huge help not having to list the same property on multiple sites. 

Now I'm starting to see people push much further out to 3-4 layers away from primary job markets completely sacrificing location for cost of ownership or cost of living. 

Since most of the lawyer advantages I give (for my jurisdiction) need to happen *before* the LLC is filed, I've run into some (but not all) who push back.

Your best option may be to push the board to get a reserve study done.

It seems like there could be a conflict of interest (e.g. the agency's investment arm finds the best deals/properties for themselves and pushes properties onto clients that their investment arm has already passed on).Is this an issue or is there something I'm missing that makes the conflict of interest uncommon?

They told you it's not allowed, so don't push the issue.

Splitting the bill and charging it back to tenants can also create disputes between tenants if one likes to wash their car every weekend but the other has to share the costs. 

I have done about 500 deals there (never using a realtor) and can get as any as I want with a " push of a button " All the best