Sometimes hard to find this happy medium in rate sheets, though.Another consideration would be taxes - points are typically treated as interest, so if your tax obligations are high this year vs being higher in the future, then this could also impact buying down now vs paying a little more in interest in future years. 

I'd have to look) days before they have to pay and rescreen again. 3) I will keep shouting this from the rooftops: written policies are your friend.

It's pretty common practice to have something like that in a property management agreement, and if it falls under that limit they're going to pay it and not notify the owner except in regular monthly updates because it is below the threshold of what is an ordinary expense in the course of business.

There's not going to be a nurse who will pay $4000 themselves to rent a 5/2 and the property wouldn't cash flow if I rent to 1 nurse for lets say $1400 / month. 

Determine at what percentage of completion you'll pay for work done. i.e.

I’m continuing to work with the tenant, but we’ll be approaching two weeks late with no signs of plans to pay.

The struggle comes when you plan to sell, pay close attention to how the bank would treat the loan in the event you would sell.Even though its a bit more work, banks are typically open to these loans as it provides them with additional collateral in the event of default.  

Now, you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them.

Or you could pay cash now and refi later.

Contractors, unless you have a working relationship with them, normally do not want you bouncing ideas off them.Understand what their hourly rate is, have a discussion with them that you are okay with paying them an hourly rate if they walk the property with you and provide you a scope of work along with an explanation of what you can/can't get away with in regards to improvements.ask them if you go with them, if they can credit you the amount that you paid.Once you develop a working relationship with a few contractors, you can bounce ideas off them and expect quality responses.I do not invest in New York.Best of luck.