"either keep this place clean or all of you are getting 30 days notice.

Lender states our insurance is inadequate, my agent tells me their requests are not reasonable or possible for most insurers, yet their company has a preferred insurance agent who can write the correct policy... fishy.

They carry forward indefinitely until you have passive income to offset or you dispose of the 'activity' (i.e. the property).If you're below $150k in AGI, you may be able to use some or all of the tax loss from the rental to offset other taxable income if you can substantiate active participation."

Or all but one (you are living in it)?  

With regards to the seller financing for either part or all of the funds source... how do you stipulate pre-payment / early payment of the loan?

Just pick one, and get started.As you grow your experience, network, and wealth, you could go in any or all of these directions.

I hadn't thought about things like exit strategies or tenants rights or all that stuff (which was naive).

You can buy a property and take over the financing and then sell it for more using what is called a "Wrap" in some parts of the country or "all inclusive deed of trust" in some areas and "owner financing" in other parts of the country.

The claims sound good until you ask them specifics and learn they aren't accounting for their time, the cost of furnishing, taxes (if they are even paying them), or all the codes they're violating.

Oral agreements won't hold up in court.