Typically in Spokane, you'll find areas that have very similar pricing but can have a great spread through the whole city and county.For instance, the properties you listed are in very different neighborhoods.

For instance, in my county you can do a search through the courthouse website's link to some 3rd party site for lis pendens notices that have gone out in a given time frame.

I am currently getting one of those loans for one of my properties, for instance. 

For instance US companies need to do a JV and turn over IP to sell into China. 

Depending on how you plan to allocate your overhead (for instance- if hours are you main cost driver), you may want to integrate with some other apps on the platform.You may want to speak to an accountant that has worked with implementing these types of systems (apps + job/project costing + class tracking) as they could help point you in the right direction. 

I'm assuming the following should all be in the name of the LLC and not me as an individual: -contract with property manager-insurance policy on house-any utilities I continue to pay for (so, for instance, checks to the gardeners / pool guy should come from the LLC) Anything else I might be forgetting?

This model was originally developed by the credit industry - for instance, a car dealer only wants to mail to people likely to qualify for a car loan.

Be careful even if you have a clause in the lease regarding forfeiting a deposit as many states don't honor that clause, and some allow the tenant to sue for x times the amount contested (in MD, for instance, it's 3x the disputed amount).   

Once you're deemed credit worthy by lenders you can start using leverage which needs to be used VERY carefully but is also extremely powerful.I personally do NOT recommend that someone with a trades or self employment 'life track' as you are describing is best suited to buy a first house with cash, and for instance use your time to fix it up.Few reasons here:Firstly, often the kinds of 'cash deals' available are ones that can to generalize tend to be more cash flow type properties (as opposed to equity properties). 

For instance, many rich folks own homes in Canmore, AB (Canadian Rockies).