Ask for its breed, weight, and name, and have them attach a picture.- Make the application part of the lease, with the stipulation that if they've lied in the application or in the lease, they can be evicted.- Tell them they have to provide documentation of the animals service / emotional support (as allowed by your local ordinances), and that they have to provide documentation that the animal is current with its inoculations, etc. as well as its local license before you'll permit the animal in the unit.- Tell them they'll have to provide you with a copy of their renter's insurance naming you as additional named insured, with a minimum of (I use $300,000) liability insurance, also before they move into the unit.It's not perfect, but it's a start toward a tenant transparency.

I enjoy college football, video games, and lifting weights. 

It does however give you a degree of independence to choose what you want to do.As your portfolio grows you'll also feel the weight of future capex responsibility more, which ironically points you to growing more cash flow through more real estate.The other issue is that you are chasing a moving goalpost.

There would potentially be some weight issues with the 2nd+ floors of some shopping malls, depending on what the potential tenant wants to store in the upstairs unit. 

Once you've identified what's important and what ratios to look for to evaluate a property, all future deals should be weighted against those "good" ratios/numbers - and periodically adjust to suit your goals.

@Eric Andersen definitely put weight into what @Michael Baum wrote and do your own research on the city regulation/zoning.

@MIchael McCUe   I get it, it feels like an incredible weight that you could easily lift with bankruptcy.

I have a wife and 3 kids and the weight of their futures on my back.

So you have to weight risk to reward.. and sometimes we have to eat one that we bought it happens..

I like umbrella because there is no worry of being pierced for inadequate separation of finances, if sued you have a heavy weight in your corner who has all the consequences of a defeat, and because usually it is reasonably priced (mine today is not so reasonably priced but I believe it is mostly related to the risks of CA).I do understand that the probability of needing the umbrella policy is low.