You should get these things for all applicants:1. rental application with employment reference and personal reference2. credit3. past landlord reference4. check for eviction historyMost apps like RentSpree include all this in what the tenant pays to send you a report.I cosigned for my daughter and her boyfriend on their first lease.

Since your a hands on person and have contractor contacts.  

Hire a company/person that is solely a QI like @Dave Foster they do it every day and will keep you legal and on track. 

I've heard good things about all four cities, so I would personally see what cities I can build the best teams in and go from there.

The main drivers1) Local Inventory2) 10 year treasury(macro)3) Personal Debt levels(macro)4) Real Unemployment(not the unemployment number but real white collar job loss ratio'd to part time jobs). 5) Industry proliferation(can't tell me a tech or finance hub moves like a health hub).To tell me #2 will derive from the same inputs as it did in Sep/Oct, I'm willing to bet it won't.

Personally, I've been in the mobile home investing niche since 2007.

It should go away.If it's only them smoking and a personal issue, I would reconsider dropping this if they are otherwise good tenants.

However, I also have ways for them to pay with cash, card, money order, cashiers check, and personal check.

@Anthony DiSanzoIf you're looking for low entry point properties that will stay in demand with a strong tenant base, I'd advise you take a look into the Memphis market. 

Getting into multi family in PHX is a bit of a high barrier to entry and the number of options you'd have are super low.