Do you think it's worth starting small, piece mealing and managing costs - or going all in? 

Not sure if the GSA of $2900-$3000 is including meals or not, but I can tell you as a travel nurse, we typically try and find a place to stay that is cheaper than the Tax-Free that we are receiving.

The second guest, he got a gift certificate for a free meal at our local restaurant. 

I review returns all day long where full renovations are just capitalized with no thought to any parts that can be expensed or put on shorter time linesWhere they just use tax assessor for depreciable value and ignore other methods that may get a bigger depreciation deductionWhere they don't apply prior year tax prep costs aginst rentals WHere they don't bother with meals, miles, or a portion of phone and internetSo while you can go general firm for 1 rental, or self prepare- Depending on the price point of the property, if it was renovated, you may be paying extra tax for no reason. 

The bulk of my pay is per-diem pay (non-taxable via housing and meal stipends).

I'd imagine $500+ for the flight and $100+ for the meal.

New house purchase, Toyota car payment, meals (@$4k+), multiple repairs line items, $25k for electricity  etc ....

Hi Carla,If it were me, I'd sit down with the potential partner (over a business meal to make it a little more relaxed) and discuss upfront the things that the two of you think might cause the partnership to go wrong.

A majority of them were a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

Don't waste an opportunity to have a ton of great meals and beer!