Investment mortgages, like DSCR loans for investment properties, typically come with prepayment penalties (PPP) to protect against prepayment risk and the keep portfolio CPR in line.

I highly recommend you travel to the market yourself and spend a couple days driving around, looking at various properties, if you are going to be buying anywhere.  

Furnace filters can go either way; some landlords handle it to protect the HVAC system, while others leave it to tenants with a reminder schedule.

Quote from @Corinne Snyder:Hi Michael, my CPA will not allow me to claim myself as a real estate professional with my one rental single-family home rental property because I do not spend enough hours per year running it, therefore he won't allow any overhead expenses to be claimed; only expenses related to the property directly.  

People always go for the cheapest financing, quit claim in to an LLC and go about their lives, when they've essentially done nothing to protect their personal assets. 

As a Baselane user and fellow landlord, I really want to understand how this went down and what I can do to protect myself.

Expect to spend a considerable amount of your time speaking to people.Expect to work dozens of hours/week with little to no immediate result.Expect most of your early interest from potential clients to come from your sphere of influence.Expect to go 3-6 months without getting paid (unless you do rentals which usually pay faster)Expect to be bombarded with distractions - mainly, people/companies marketing to you so that you choose their system for quick and easy buyer or seller leads.

You may need to spend every cent they offer on moving things out and back in, but that a small price to pay if after this is done you have your property back in the condition it was when you started.

Several of my STR investor clients here in Colorado have used a designer, and they generally pick a few statement pieces that they spend money on and then go with FB marketplace  or even IKEA for smaller items. 

Having legal documents in place help protect you.