There is always a lot of pressure to buy, no matter what the market.

If your wife can be pressured by her father, and her father is living the "Happy wife, happy life" conundrum you could be in real trouble.The rental contract should protect everyone including the tenants.

It should also take pressure off of the $15 for everyone stance. 

They pressure Contractors into signing up with promises of leads for $40....they don't vet the Contractors much if at all.

I will note that I have offered on houses that have been listed for a long time, and magically, once I make an offer, those other buyers who felt no pressure, jump in too.  

We've purchased a number of properties with the utilities off and have no idea what will spray from where when put under pressure.

I pay a fortune for water, have implemented many cost saving features... but my best was inserting a pressure regulator, (after seeing a kitchen faucet jump) Saves on the life pipes and cuts down on the amount of water released per second.

I also include furniture for the common areas such as a couple of basic sofas, a wall mounted television, dining table and chairs and other odds and ends.

Whether that's from peer pressure or city or whatever but you notice it when you are familiar with the situation in Portland and SF area. lastly on Northern CA I kind of see that fire disasters kind of like when back east when the steel mill closed and all the jobs left.. think Gary IN and the thousands of vacant homes there.. people migrated.   

I think this plan may put undo pressure on you to select a tenant while you are in town VS finding the best tenant for your property.