.--- Another lawsuit resulted from owner's contractor taking down basement handrail to get supplies down the steps, then they didn't put it back and tenant fell down the stairs.- We also negotiate a reasonable completion date, depending on the Scope Of Work (SOW). --- Who gets all the phone calls and wastes time calming a tenant down because the owner's contractor doesn't show up as scheduled after they took time off from work or a 3 day job takes 3 weeks?

Louisian and I'd definitely recommend attending the next happy hour later this month, which you can find here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/1230165-febr....As for trusted people for the maintenance issues, I'd recommend Kyle @ https://hometeamstl.com/.

Transcribing transactions from bank statements, posting transactions to the correct accounts, and then manually creating an income statement, statement of owner's equity and a balance sheet is a fairly time consuming process and I have not been able to keep up with the book keeping between my regular work responsibilities.What accounting software do people recommend? 

Any good recommendations for the collection agency or any way to get the money back from the tenant or any way to report it to the credit bureau?

A good real estate accountant can save you thousands of dollars by leveraging entity selection and formation, tax deductions, cost segregations, bonus depreciation and tax planning.I recommend finding an accountant who specializes in real estate taxation, business taxation, financial planning and tax planning.You may want to consider working with your accountant remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for a accountant willing to work with you throughout the year.

if you're beginning conversations with agents, and they don't recommend that you sign this agreement before the close on a property, is that a good thing or a bad thing? 

I would strongly recommend you have an exit strategy or multiple exit strategies in your partnership agreements.

Highly recommend looking into Baselane for your rentals.

If you are priced well and the condition is great barring there is not a ton of supply, then you will sell quickly!  

BiggerPockets also has a calculator to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.