He said it saved him on many occasions. 

We've also used the fund for reserve requirements and down payment funds on occasion, but lately it's for turnovers and repairs.   

I've worked with CS Rhoderick LLC on a few different occasions.  

I've used Paypal before for accepting rent and I didn't have a problem but I have seen on many occasions online of horror stories of tenants filing claims on months of rent and getting refunded, leaving the landlord SOL, you can take the tenant to small claims but you may never see the money.

On several occasions my RE friends and I get together and talk about numbers, deals etc.

You have a made a few mistakes, and unfortunately they are going to cost you on this occasion, but you will learn from them and be better prepared for the future.

Until venturing into Vacation Rentals we've always managed our own portfolio and will continue to do so in the VR arena as well @Michael Wind for a variety of reasons.We're a licensed RE brokerGenera ContractorInvestorOnly invest in local properties that we can easily manageDon't really trust most PM's Enjoy realizing the maximum amount of ROI we realize doing it this way.Being our own PM helps us keep our eye on the ball at all times thus very intimately vested in our properties and able to arise to any occasion anytime.Add to that we've had some experience in being owners in abstentia with not to positive results.

It does go the other way on occasion and you don't want to have to fight with title for the difference after you've given up all leverage.We too are occasionally faced with some very aggressive and uninformed title agents who insist we must submit all of our documents in advance of payoff.

On one occasion the lender cashed BOTH checks and had to issue a refund.

In return, both sets of people kept me informed of what was going on in their home buying process and also allowed me to conduct showings when they were in their final 30 days.In fact, one set of tenants (had rented the other side of my personal duplex) moved one street up and one street over, so they are still my neighbors and I run into them on occasion.