Contracts/Procurement.... 

Buyer agency in my area states that an agent is owed a commission if they have procured cause.

The point of the article was to introduce a thought experiment to help folks who financially suffer under common misconceptions, as millions of aspiring homeowners are romantic about real estate, and spend more than they budgeted for that bigger house or bigger yard, or a chefs stove that is a total and utter SUNK COST, and then justify it by parroting that "Your home is your biggest investment" expression.

I don't think that would be necessary to procuring a good agent honestly and would just be an unneeded cost.

Not hard to figure out who there were/are, and squawking about capitalism like a parrot to justify it all does zero to address this situation. 

As the USA scrambles to procure these resources, quarantining is the best possible solution to buying them time.

If you were able to procure financing that allowed you to buy 10 identical homes to the hypothetical one described in this scenario, each with just $10,000 on the table, you would have ultimately spent the same $100,000 described in scenario #1 at the end of the year.  

Get them on your lease (with a security deposit that the seller procures for you and conveys to you at closing) as soon as possible, so you know what their lease says.With such a close-to-market rent in this uncertain time, I wouldn't raise rents until you for sure want them out.Have a walk through of their apartment and note any damages.

The below is a good start: - Company Specifics (how many properties do they manage, what type of properties do they manage, how many property managers are employed, how many years have they been in operation, are they licensed)- Pricing (what is the cost to manage the unit, what is the cost, if any, to lease the unit, is there an onboarding fee, is there an early termination cost, are there ad-hoc costs for maintenance, tenant screening, or miscellaneous costs - such as to appear in court if you have an eviction)- Service offerings (do they conduct unit inspections, do they provide cleaning services, do they offer an owner portal to submit requests, do they offer a tenant portal to submit requests)- Financial Services (do they pay bills to vendors on your behalf, do they manage insurance procurement, do they provide you with rent roll, income statement, P&L, general ledger info, do they prepare annual 1099s for vendors, do they manage tax preparation process, do they allow tenants to pay rent online)- Tenant screening process (how do they vet tenants, do they take marketing photos, do they screen tenants, do they handle lease preparation, do they help register new tenants, do they conduct credit/background/reference checks, etc.) 

I'll largely parrot what others have said, invest in the match.One thing that hasn't been mentioned, is that once you get serious about real estate and start buying multiple properties, lenders will want to see that you have sufficient reserves.