A promissory note and deed of trust are important but there are also other disclosures and documents you should collect to help protect the loan - Lender's Title Policy in 2nd position behind the bank loan, Loss Payee on the hazard insurance policy binder behind the mortgage lender so your parents get reassurance they'd be paid back if there were any claims that need to be made.

Very excited to continue to dive into this line of asset collection and hopefully build a great portfolio for myself!

Also there are plenty of rent scammers out there saying they have a rental and collecting app fees on a ghost house and sometimes even getting a deposit.

My place sleeps a lot, and so, is often rented by large groups of "friends", no one with a majority stake in the collective negative outcomes of their behavior. 

It is increasingly common for a PM to charge a "leasing fee" which covers all the costs of marketing, showing, screening, placing tenant under contract, collecting deposit and rent, setting up utilities, getting the tenant placed, etc.If the PM can't justify the cost, then they shouldn't be charging it.

This way, maintenance, repairs, and taxes are the responsibility of the new owner, while you continue to collect principal and interest, potentially as tax-free income.I'm not a CPA, just a heads-up 😄, but you could possibly avoid capital gains tax with this approach.

Can I still make an LLC and just collect the rent and put the maintenance and mortgage payments through that LLC?

If they trash your place and you send them to collections, they won't care because their credit is already bad.If mom and the son were living together, and mom had really good credit, then there may be some wiggle room to consider them.

Remember, if you have to carry a gun to collect rent, you made a bad investment decision.

I recommend ActiveCampaign, but you can also use ClickFunnels, HubSpot, and Salesforce.Offer a lead magnet to attract investors and collect their information.