I think behind tenant screenings and leases there is a quality of a landlord that's also as a person that is the respect for a good person and the intelligence of making fair affairs.For me for ten years in the past I had a house of 650sqft (two rooms and cozy kitchen) where I always have been giving away one of the room for others who were asking for help for themselves and I didn't had any earnings for me by that, and that has been during for many and many years, meanwhile I was surely needing more space for me, for my business in a studio and for my own personal life I eventually could have been having.Nonetheless this, on last years I had no more an house and I needed a room for rent, but even before any screening the landlords were being unrespectful and very unreasonably severe to me, they often had making me lose so much time by no taking or going away to the point I had no other choices in the end, and they set me in the wrong places for me, dangerous ones, too small, too big and very expensive, unhealthy ones or not providing anything at all when it was obvious they needed to.To me this kind of behaviour is very wrong, mostly because usually they are the same people who pretend respects and acts as they are very careful and attentive to housing situations in general, but with me, they have been lying above anything and just disrespected the person at a human level. 

Plus, real estate often has tax advantages that stocks don’t offer. 

Microsoft Excel, and most budget or free online bookkeeping isn't going to cut it in this situation.For the rental properties you own directly, I often tell clients and prospects that a P&L in Microsoft Excel is just fine and a balance sheet is not necessary for tax purposes. 

Curious on what actual investors experience as the bigger cities like Cleveland, Toledo, and Columbus are discussed more often here.The best way to investigate areas?

As a former/ sometimes still carpenter (on my own properties only now) also working as an agent, I am often surprised at how little certain inspectors know.

Often for free.

While this can be appealing for short-term liquidity without immediate monthly payments, it often comes at the cost of significant equity upon sale.

While this isn't a hard and fast rule, more often then not, these are the guys that can't manage their schedules well, and will be gung-ho on your job for a couple weeks, then be flaking out as they picked up too much work and are trying to keep too many homeowners happy.And lastly, the more detail you have the better the bid will be with few change orders.  

Closet not always necessary: While a closet is often considered a bedroom feature, it's not always required by building codes to classify a room as a bedroom.

Finding handymen is NEVER easy:( Often, you have to use trial & error method and weed through several before finding one that is acceptably (never pefect) reliable, quality, will fix warranty issues and has decent prices.Try visiting a Home Depot 6-8am on a Saturday.