If you do more than one unit this way make sure you don't need a boarding house license in your town. 

I'm also a licensed realtor and can help you search for a good deal if you don't already have an agent.

Being cheap about repairs leaves you with unhappy tenants who will not take good care of the property because you don't.Send a licensed plumber ASAP.

I mentor people in the business and have mortgage and real estate licenses.

Should I offer to pay them for their consultation, or are these types of questions common as part of the PM vetting process and is a "courtesy service"?

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

All require the "lender" to be licensed in the state, for borrower to have no mortgage lates or hiccups, have different rules and change the rules whenever their investors (not government MBS these are big guns investment firms with pulse of the location where your property sits) see clouds in the sky.

Investors should therefore exercise significant care when choosing their Qualified Intermediary because of the critical role the company will play in the administration of their 1031 Exchange transaction.It is extremely important to note that 1031 Exchange Qualified Intermediaries are generally not required to be licensed, regulated, audited or otherwise monitored by any regulatory body.

This question is definitely very location dependent - licensing across state-lines is a tricky thing to navigate so depending on the size of the lender they may operate in one metropolis or all over the country.

Hire licensed and insured vendors.