I usually only see the tenant when she takes her dog outside on my Ring Doorbell.

Usually yes, however there are crowdfunding opportunities like sparkrental.com that allow for low entry.   

Hi Mary,It is true the lender will not usually give you the rehab funds in advance, but this does not mean that you must complete all of the rehab out of pocket.

It's good advice that the person can take or not take.You were just doing your usual.

If you've been reading books and listening to podcasts, adding in-person real estate investor meetups is usually the special sauce to break the paralysis.

Improvements, like a remodel in the rental unit, are usually considered capital expenses and need to be depreciated over time.

By sb1482 there cannot be a substantial change in lease terms but requiring notice to introduce animals, requiring keeping public/common areas free of junk, requiring her animal to be leashed in public/common areas, to require instant pet pick up in public/common areas are all reasonable terms, require the animal to not be a nuisance to other tenants (jumping on definitely is a nuisance, but I usually mean this to mean the dog cannot have excessive barking) and would be difficult for tenant to state are substantial change of terms as all those are reasonable requirements. 

Many investors did not like the idea of the prices of vendees because they were usually market price.

Private interval funds generally target 15-20% of their allocation to short term investments or reits so they can satisfy investor redemptions after a shorter lockup (usually 2-3yrs), of course this may create a cash drag on returns if not managed appropriately.

Here’s a tip: Lowes usually has zero-interest financing sales 2 or 3 times per year.