This is a people business ultimately, and I can guarantee you that a paying tenant won't be thinking about the "savings" over the years on cheap rent.

Umbrellas are pretty cheap, so I would not try to avoid them.2) This is also a decent option, but I've seen people do 1 house per LLC which seems ridiculous.3) This 1% thing is unlikely to have the benefit you hoped. 

I only ask because a town I grew up in, (Tempe AZ) was cheap when I first arrived there. 

It’s a small single family three bedroom one bathroom unit, I bought it for cheap and plan on renting on the higher scale by making minor improvements such as flooring, fresh paints and of course new kitchen and bathroom

It also makes cleaning easier, as you don't get that layer of nastiness where the sink meets the counter.But, if this is a low end, low rent type area, probably best to do it as cheap as possible.  

All my HVAC guys say to use the cheap filters, not the high-end, high MERV filters.

Be aware of Drafters where you are trying to be cheap.

2 thoughts. 1)You pay for what you get, ie cheap in rarely good, and good is rarely cheap....

Cheap fixes rarely work . 

I mostly see those when I am buying cheap houses.