Any other advice, or pieces that you think I'm missing - I'd be grateful for any and all wisdom that is shared with me. 

@Bayo Badejo, there are so many missing pieces here to even begin to give a real answer.What insights are you wanting?  

Nothing will piss off the inspector faster than missing an inspection.My last piece of advice, in an effort to not make this a book length post, deals with the money.

You have to tell people if a toy is broken, missing pieces, or might explode when played with.

As you probably guessed from the unpaid rent, the tenants did not leave a mail forwarding address that I could serve them court papers at. 

Thank you for your reply I will send you an e-mail

I do this for piece of mind and redundancy.  

I utilize a PO Box as well.It wouldn't be hard for our tenants to find out where we live (tax assessor's online tool) ~ But for $50/yearly ... it gives me a bit more piece of mind :)

congrats my friendHere is one piece of advice I have for you:As you attempt to find what area to invest in, use this website https://www.areavibes.com/Its a great resource and starting point for what an area might look like and it has something called a "livability score".

Others either have a check sent right to them or have another piece of property the get this STAR rebate for.