This type of deal can also help you minimize upfront costs, as you’re reducing the cash needed to buy the property outright by aligning the seller’s financial outcome with yours.While there may be details to work through, such as crafting a solid contract or ensuring alignment with any financing you bring in, these can be easily addressed with the right team in place.

Then do a thorough research on tenant applicants (note: leaving this to a PM may be hazardous to your financial health) and choose the one that is most “stable” with the best potential for long term tenancy.This advice is contrary to maximization of rental income, but IMO will reduce expenses of tenant turnover, property damage, property management fees so much that the difference in bottom line income will be quite small.  

If you are looking for a break in commission hire one of them that are not full service, or hire someone that is desperately in need of the commission at a hugely reduced rate in your market.

2.Are there strategies to reduce the required down payment or secure better mortgage terms?

If you need to get it rented fast, a great property manager would list the home for $2100 (below market) and get several quality applicants competing against each other to drive the price up to the max so you don't risk vacancy by starting out too high and gradually reducing to find the sweet spot.

Selling at FMV avoids the gift tax but provides your child with a higher tax basis, reducing their future capital gains liability.A better strategy for selling below FMV is to sell the house at FMV on an installment note, then forgive interest and principal annually up to the gift tax exclusion amount.

I won’t sugar coat it when I first got in I didn’t realize the over head cost to run a business .

Paying off rental mortgages increases monthly cash flow but reduces liquidity, while investing in hard money lending offers high returns but is taxed as ordinary income.Buying a multi-unit rental provides tax benefits like depreciation, while purchasing a business can yield strong profits but requires active management.

PM made a couple attempts to collect and then offered to cover the damage because toilet replacements are not that costly and continuing to pursue the damages did not make sense for them.Airbnb is supposed to cover guest damage but if they refuse to pay for guest damage their insurance has reduced value and cannot be relied upon. 

You can likely see where a 5% reduction in your taxes isn't going to do much to reduce your bill.