For the most part its just health and safety items, which are items we should have remedied anyways.As someone else mentioned, biggest thing to avoid is having the house tagged as vacant which the city will do if it sits empty for too long (handful of months, grass not cut, etc).

Remember, no system is perfect, so avoid the temptation of constantly chasing after the next shiny object.

Avoid lenders that want to escrow your payments at closing, this increases your cash to close drastically and, in my opinion, is not the best structure even for new investors.

We try to avoid texts.

For years there was fear that creation of the tic right before a sale might be viewed as an attempt to artificially avoid taxes. 

I’m forming an LLC to purchase these investments and plan to use commercial or portfolio lending.I’d like to avoid properties with HOAs, large multi-family units, or extensive renovation needs, and I’m primarily interested in properties with good appreciation potential.

Any tips on avoiding common mistakes?

I converted my STR back in December to avoid the newly increased Hotel Occupancy Tax (9% monthly) and to cut out my STR PM (10%/monthly).

Keep an eye on your debt-to-income ratio and overall leverage to avoid overextending.

Instead of “cash for keys” you can just tell him to get out to avoid having to pay for all the damages.