We did receive deposits at closing as a credit.

G’dayHow do you track your expenses and find a balance between being a spendthrift and being too conservative?

At this location we will move 20 of the 115 to autopay, the rest are already on autopay (debit/credit card/bank echeck).  20 doesn't sound like much but times 5 other locations this will reduce our workload. 

Building strong relationships with lenders is key working with local banks or credit unions that understand the market can give you an edge.

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?

You are already off track, but with good intentions.

I just completed a 80K HELOC with a local credit union.

If you had a paid off rental house, and others with mortgages, and you wanted to use the equity in the paid off rental for a cash offer on another property, how would one do that if the DTI ratio doesn't work due to having too much credit utilization with the addition of the new loan.

Even though we do run credit and background, I refer to us as private money lenders rather than hard money lenders based primarily on the cost of capital.

Waiting for a solid applicant with decent credit and rental history has helped me find good tenants that do the right thing.