I may be tempted to go on a buying spree with excess cash if this happened, but would be hesitant to leverage back up to do it as I don't believe in risking things I have and need in order to buy things that I don't have and don't need.

Apologies to anyone who feels this is excessive, but I do think it's important to have terms in writing. 

If you want carpet, go with a super cheap frieze and get a good quality pad with a moisture barrier (8lb pad).

It sounds excessive.

So, my intention is to continue to accrue the cashflow in case of a cap ex situation or a new purchase.I am just wondering what people do with the excess cashflow/reserves.

I avoid contractors that want to get paid by the job because then they will typically make it so that they earn in excess of 100 an hour; for larger jobs they might underestimate the amount of work.  

I had a property manager who took a bad check and never even informed me until 2 months later after the fact of this problem with tenants who subsequently created an nusaince deliberately flushing rags and excess tampons down the drain, complaining about mold, refusing to let in the plummer, threatening my manager etc...

If the property really wasn't yours and you were more of a nominee/agent with your name on all the legal documentation on behalf of your parents, in all likelihood if the IRS audited you and had all the facts, they would probably disregard the legal ownership and treat your parents as the true owners for US tax purposes.Even if it was a gift, gifts are not subject to income tax but would be includable in your estate and since your non-US person parents were gifting US real estate, they would be subject to US gift tax on the excess of the gift above the annual exclusion (15k I believe).

When 2012 gets here and we have 15% unemployment, 10%+ inflation, a National Debt in excess of $15T and more foreclosures than we want to see, I would love to hear you argue about how intellectual Obama is.

I would further hypothesize that 50k home markets present a lesser risk of default on owner occupant buyers as the median income is often in excess of 33% of the home's price, while low enough to disqualify people from other big ticket purchases. 20% of the REOs I've gotten in 50k home markets have been from owner occupants.