I am thinking of moving to Pricelabs soon as I am spending a lot of time tweaking rates almost daily.

However, there are some drawbacks to putting a rental property in a trust - first setting up a trust can be expensive and involve a lot of paperwork, the rental property may be subject to rent control and liability insurance may be more expensive for a trust.

Every property we onboard the owner has complete control over their furnishing budget; we have never and will never dictate this.

It's easier said than done, but decide what you're willing to spend and stick to it.

Unfortunately no one is going to guarantee that they'll make you a loan; there are too many things that can pop up outside of the lender's control.

Being in control of the contract, understanding the market you're buying in, and securing the right  price are the foundations of a solid deal.

I plan to head to the area in the beginning of December and would love to use the time I spend there to speak with lenders, property managers, etc. to make a more educated decision. 

Plus, Zillow, Rentler and the other real estate platforms tend to have all sorts of unnecessary hoops to jump through for landlords, and I find a lot of their design very un-intuitive (I remember spending waaayyy too much time just trying to figure out simple things in Rentler).  ...why can't they make it easier?

Not spending money.  

The goal is to change careers to something that allows me to decide my hours (in the process of now), become a landlord, and finally spend more time with my kids and family.