It is tricky to set up and can easily get out of whack so entries need to monitored carefully and not allowed to accumulate until year end.  

Anything paying more than 12% will require an exceptional property manager to keep the rent coming, you need to be monitor your property manager carefully if you get into that business.

I would like to try and buy a multi-family and I guess I will just continue to monitor throughout the winter to see if a deal REALLY jumps out at me.

We have a meter and are monitoring the moisture.We got our permits for all three houses pretty quickly, they're taped up in the windows already.  

PM sounds like a jerk.. and your stuck defending someone you hired to do the best job possible for you.. they dropped the ball and you need to further monitor what they are up do and doing by physically taking action and checking what's up.  

I added some terms such as the ability to get back to $1200 if they pay the deferred balance (they pay online and can monitor their account balance).

The seller wants to wait a couple more days for more offers because it has only been on the market a few days if your buyer can offer asking then the seller will take it off the market"I turned around and offered asking and now, nothing and I know het is monitoring the listing as he just updated it a couple of minutes ago.

Many cards offer credit score monitoring and there is also CreditKarma.com.

I'm monitoring CL always, even when I don't have anything to rent and sometimes even save some listing, copying them on my comp.

I think it is best you start by investing in your "backyard" in an area close to your home so you can closely monitor project progress while learning the ropes.