I'm going to paint neutral colors throughout the house.

But a neutral custodian doesn't, all you simply tell them is what you want to invest in and they put your money into that investment and charge a process fee.

4- how to find or fix the problem with a dead outlet, reverse neutral, missing ground?

I purchase a property 3 years ago that was cash neutral at purchase using my cap expense numbers (most people think are high) that now cash flows $800/month.  

Unfortunately, in my area (San Diego), even with 30% down you are barely cash flow neutral so there is no cash on cash return.

Next, see if you can find a contractor or experienced rehabber through your existing network of friends and family that you can trust, that is willing to be a neutral 3rd party as you meet each potential contractor on site.

Fannie Mae puts out a great guide that will help you with most of your decisions using a neutral approach.  

Do you feel it is beyond her or his abilities to look at this person's self employed tax returns and write smiley faces in boxes we want to see numbers in, neutral faces in boxes we don't care about, and sad faces in boxes we don't want to see large numbers in, to get him ready to house hunt in January 2017 - IF NEEDED?

If you can't control your emotions having a neutral third party might be best.No legal advice

So if I purchased a cash neutral SFR 5 years ago (and 5 years ago it was still easy to find cash positive SFR at retail in San Diego) it would be cash flowing close to $700/month (assuming fixed rate loan and no refinance to take out the property appreciation.