I agree with your premise, but I completely disagree with your examples, @Chris Seveney.Lately, there’s been an epidemic on this board of potential California lenders with amounts in the $100k ballpark who want to get into lending locally.

@Calvin Graves So I disagree with the concept that the lease covers all bad/undesirable behavior that would cause a "normal" landlord to non-renew.

Revenue Side Analysis: Examining rental income and vacancy rates and setting effective rent strategies.3.

But it’s uncertain how meticulously the IRS will examine my logs.

I'm going to disagree with @Matthew Paul for the first time ever :-) and say get the new cabinets.

Make sure to spend some time studying your state specific laws as the state exam is harder than the national exam....in my opinion. 

I disagree "Real Estate Attorney" is a broad category.

I don't disagree with the advice already given and kind of second it.

@Michael Mcghee  yup Deja Vu all over again.back in the day I do disagree with Marco's comments that the homes were negative cash flow they were not marketed that way by west coast marketing companies.. they were advertised as 100 to 200 a month positive... when things melted down thousands lost these rental homes as they did not have enough reserves.. they would get their house vandalized etc etc.  

Fraudsters can try to attack a free/clear property with many scams but if there is a mortgage they have to pay it off to execute.I disagree.