If you are looking for a GC who will take care of all aspects of the project, you are going to pay a premium.

RISD will command a 10-15% MV premium over RCISD, and correspondingly more rental demand.

I guess this also depends on how many rentals you have and what features you require in a PMS.

I've been told New Orleans lenders use a 40% OpExp margin due to hurricane insurance premiums.

My thought is is use the Rent Ready feature of reporting his payment history to the credit bureau so it can work in his favor as a trade line, but I'm wondering if this is an unnecessary added step since he can already pull transactions on his bank side. 

Pros: Diverse job market, low unemployment, great resilience during recessions, nice appreciation, 1% rule can be hit if you look hard enough, great economy, good schools, Midwest nice.Cons: Extreme weather at times (hot/humid summers, tornadoes/hail, brutal cold in Jan/Feb), high insurance premiums, property taxes also really high.

Here are a few suggestions on how you can maximize the wealth of information available: Check out the blogs and podcasts, or take advantage of the search feature (magnifying glass).

Go to Etsy and search for "rental property tracker," and you will find hundreds of nice spreadsheets to track 10-20 rentals, usually for under $10.Software has extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button, and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports.

First time I saw that feature on here. 

Here are a few suggestions on how you can maximize the wealth of information available: Check out the blogs and podcasts, or take advantage of the search feature (magnifying glass).