I'm not claiming that running this outfit is passive investing, not by a long shot.

Have you ever made an insurance claim?

In a non-community property state you have 2 years within the date of spouses death to claim their $250k tax free exemption as well, if you don’t you get their 1/2 of the property’s value stepped up. 

The Averys use to claim the smokies were recession proof without having owned through a recession.  

I wonder what else he has stopped you from claiming for 28 years. 

Here is a hint:  post your UNFURNISHED home on ALEsolutions.com and see if you get any bites. they will rent unfurnished for their clients for insurance claims.

You can always take them to small claims court.

I have actually seen people that claim to have a great investment, but neglected to put something like property taxes, repairs, insurance, management fees, or payroll in their numbers.  

seems like you made the right choice, many sellers want to base an evaluation on pro forma numbers which is entirely unrealistic.

However, it takes 7-10 days (which is longer than Zillow claims) for me to actually get the payments.