In cold climates you want to make sure the deepened perimeter of the slab is below the frost line so the expansion of frozen soil doesn't heave the building up, but if it has been fine since the 50's you should be ok.

I met a fella selling frozen meat one day (I bought some) and in our conversation we found out that he is a broker and told him we (my Mom and I) were trying to get started in REI, a few weeks later he told us about this unlisted house in a nearby town, and has been working with me to get the financing together to do the deal.

And if you ever have your bank accounts frozen by a court, you'll have the dickens of a time getting the deposits back to your tenants within the time legally allotted.

Also depending on location pex has a harder time bursting when frozen.

Pex won't burst if frozen??

I am 99% sure that the taxes are frozen at purchase I believe they can go up around 1% a year as in the residential as well.  

so a 5ft by 8 ft 10 ft deep is a little much for me through frozen clay.  

just read the fine print on HELOC"s  they can get called and or frozen.. not that it would happen but it could happen if markets got tight.. millions of them were called from 08 to 2010... most folks posting now were not doing business.So when you get the loan docs read them carefully I will 99% say there is a clause that the bank can unilaterly freeze or call these due with no notice  I bailed out a lot of flippers in those years who were in the middle of big rehabs and their helocs got frozen and they did not have the money to finish.not being negative just giving you a heads up since you said your very conservative.

Once you terminate employment, you can leave the 401k there but it becomes essentially frozen and just an investment vehicle for the funds in place.  

"A few months" is NEVER acceptable unless you've got an amazingly great reason AND get that stipulated in the letter.Examples include frozen ground if you need to dig (work has to wait until spring), can't paint the exterior due to cold weather (paint doesn't cover well when it's frozen), etc.My crystal ball tells me that you're about to get into a WORLD OF HURT.