At this point, I would recommend having a line of credit to cover these things so you don't have money sitting in the bank doing nothing when it could be put to work.I have 33 units, no debt except for mortgages, and excellent income.

Yes a stay in a potato is interesting but if there isn't much else to do around there, it will be a bit of a loser.Remote isn't always bad.

It sounds like the Title Co. was not aware that the tenant prepaid rent and just prorated the current rent for the month of closing, so agree if they had no knowledge of it, would not have ever gone on the settlement statement as a credit to the buyer and they likely will not do anything post closing to help obtain those funds. 

I'm looking into 1/1MF, 2/1MF for now I feel bad about one property that I missed out on due to procrastinating.

When I’m talking short term financing is bad.  

There's a few different ways to focus on a lower rate such as with house hacking and making the investment your primary residence, requesting a significant closing credit from the sellers for standard rate buy-downs (which I've had great success with recently), or utilizing lenders who offer short term rate lowering solutions such as 2-1 rate buy downs (again, ideally paid for by the sellers).

One bad situation can harm all the properties.

The credit score is the single best indicator of how one pays their financial obligations.

I think it's a gamble for someone 2000 miles away - could do well or badly.  

When you go to a Bank or Credit Union, they can only offer you what products that bank or credit union offer.