You can misunderstand what he says, misread body language, miscommunicate, etc.The only way I know is to really screen them up front.

If the property is a great opportunity, look for a lender who will do refinancing quickly and be sure the original lender lender does not have a prepayment penalty in their language.

Hopefully your broker understand the language and needs of an investor - my experience is that most agents do not have the skills or experience to be very helpful to investors.

The second breach of lease in the 12-month period you have the option to serve a 5-day curable notice or a 14-day non-curable notice stating they have to move out.On a lease greater than 12-months, you need to provide a 30-day notice to pay or quit, and if memory serves me correctly, you have to do this every time rather than being able to serve the 14-day on the second failure to pay as stated above.If you are using the Wisconsin Legal Blank lease, you will need to add language manually to accommodate for the ability to serve 5-day notices on leases greater than 12-months. 

2) If a property needs to be updated (ex: new floor, paint, fence), how should I go about incorporating language into a deal that allows me to make the updates I need while providing me with the proper protection financially and operationally?

We were also thinking of living in Colombia for 1/2 a year to save more and practice Spanish for the little one, but that won't be until he's 3 or 4 and language is more of a focus. 

(I said it much nicer than this, however, there is a language barrier as he is Spanish speaking and very little English) Due to this, the tenant has decided to withhold his rent for his last month of the lease stating that he's not paying until he gets his deposit back (which is $850 compared to $950/mo current rent).

(In the IRS language, they tax you on depreciation "allowed or allowABLE").If you choose to not take depreciation, not only it's against the tax rules ("impermissible accounting method"), but you're shooting yourself in the foot.

@David Krulac - the lease I use has been approved by the Attorney General office as plain language.

Hi -Has anyone ever put language to the effect of "if tenant threatens legal action against landlord or causes landlord to have to seek an attorney's advice, this agreement can be terminated as LL's discretion."