We will be adding a day light basement to their Studio House plan to capture views of the lake we are building on.

But it seems to my simple way of thinking isn't that *also* going to reduce your monthly benefits to a large percent?

Buying land is simple there is due diligence that you need to do but not a ton.

A simple baseline plan might’ve steered him toward properties with more reliable maintenace histories or a stronger neighborhood profile, saving him a lot of sweat.

If you don't want the property any more a 1031 is probably your best bet, unless it's got a huge capital gains capture in which case you could just take your tax lumps and collect your funds. 

Simple math would be a PITI of 1,000 and rents of 1500.

From what I see all the people answering to me here (and there are so many) are just coming against and refusing to agree with my simple statement: "a landlord is not above the law or norms by its personal choice or presumed capability to judge what he don't know" or as well "a landlord cannot deny or miscarriage a service to a stranger without a known valid reason and at the same time pretend to be operating professionally or loyally to the moral"Basically I'm telling if you are not able to do your business correctly it would be better to find someone else than you, mainly when your ideas about "squatter" or fair treatment are coming from ignorance or completely invented. 

Sticking with the theory of making thins simple and fool proof......any one have thoughts or suggestions

(Think "S" means "Simple", and "C" means "Complicated") Don't try it at home.

Maybe this is a simple question but does this have to be set up through a service or could this just be my bank and I hold the money?