Going over maps of known repairs with contractors showed that there were a few houses where people tried to have piers installed and ran out of money before hitting stable soil, others in the hyper local area did have to go to 100+ ft.  

Being clear about what you want to do from the start not only helps you stay on track, but it also makes it easier to spot problems or delays before they happen.I totally agree that talking to people is important.

If the tenants are the issue, they can make it very difficult to show the property and this can create a lot of issues for you during this time.It will also prevent you from selling your home for maximum market value as only few people will want to deal with holdover tenants.

So it may end up costing you $400k within 30-60 days without any financing options.How do people overcome this when you do your due diligence?

The first couple is a no-brainer.The second group has too many people, increasing wear-and-tear on the home.

People also love the back deck with the string lights and a nice seating area. 

You can also find many examples in the forums of people experiencing poor valuations due to lack of comps.

I host a group for midterm rental operators and I had 2 people in last week's meeting essentially say the same thing.

Basically you can't have the yard be higher than 6 inches below the window sill (otherwise it would v difficult for people to exit out of this window in case of an emergency). 

BP has built a great selection, all of them worth reading and that will help you build foundational knowledge.To answer this one: the words from old school investor Dolf De Roos "seldom sell" and you will find a lot of post on BP from people who regret selling properties in the past.