Look at expenses - were there any unnecessary expenses that you could cut down on?

For sure, you will avoid unnecessary pain points by starting with vetting any perspective site with the local planning department to get their read on the feasibility of obtaining permits.

A reserve is unnecessary, but I still keep around $15,000 - $20,000 in my account.The point is, you should sit down and assess your personal finances to determine what the worst-case scenario may look like, how much you would need to cover it without impacting your life, and whether you will need to build a reserve. 

Failure to do so can result in very costly fines, lost rent, and and unnecessary aggravation.

.: when tying a new forum post, the forums could show results that may answer your question, with the goal being that we don't see the same questions asked over and over again.But as you observe, answers change over the years, so that may be an unnecessary distraction and I'm not as interested in pursuing it now that you've mentioned it, especially due to the changes that have come to this market in just the last 12-18 months.

There may be some impact on the margin regarding how you write or what words you use, but by and large, this is unnecessary to stress over.

There are a host of ways to limit liability and while putting the home into an LLC sounds attractive, doing so can create unnecessary burdens (higher taxes, higher insurance premiums, etc). 

My current short-term goal for the next 6 months is to reduce my liabilities from unnecessary credit card debts, while focusing on learning how to really commit to financial discipline.

Worst thing that may happen is an unnecessary call or two, but for the cost avoidance of not hiring a PM, it is worth it.If you have an eviction or vacancy, you will need feet on the street to deal with it.

The $1000 upfront isn't standard, the points are high, the interest is high, I've never heard of those types of fees and depending on the situation a hold back may be a thing you have to deal with, but considering the rest I'm guessing that's probably unnecessary too