Make sure all smoke alarms are working, no windows painted shut, no exposed wires, etc.  

That is another nice thing about lower purchase price properites though is you can get your feet wet without exposing yourself to quite a bit of risk.

Are they doing everything they can to expose properties to the widest possible market?

Holding a security deposit sounds nice, but the way tenant laws are written now it exposes you to far too much liability.

The fact that we would only have to put down ~3.5% if we owner-occupy with an FHA loan is very tempting, however it does significantly expose us to the mercy of the house market and forces us to pay PMI.

You may have to create other smart entities to adapt the general principles exposed above to your situation.

Last I talked w/ my CPA I had asked him if there was any benefit to billing my contracting company for work on my rentals and he had the same answer — no need as it would only expose me to more SE tax on that income. 

As far as that goes, my understanding is that since this is an FNMA loan, which provides for that exemption as part of the delayed financing stipulations, it shouldn't be an issue.But, I guess my question is more to what liabilities I might be exposed to by buying in my personal name, refinancing, and then deeding it over to my LLC (1 move) vs. buying in the LLC's name, deeding it to my personal name, refinancing, and then deeding it back to the LLC (2 moves).The one thing that came to mind was title insurance.

Are they doing everything they can to expose properties to the widest possible market?

The agent provides the best chance of selling the house at the price and terms most favorable to the seller by exposing it to the largest number of possible buyers through an MLS listing, which is something that most wholesalers can't offer.