Their character, their payment record, how well they take care of you property, etc all these things are for you to discover with your tenants and build trust between each other. 2. when it comes to screening, you must check their credit, their paystubs, their employer and landlord references, their criminal background, I also get a copy of everyone's photo ID.3.

Second question is, if we don't live in the city we will invest in, we understand we will have to be traveling often, but who could be a good person to check in on the construction so we don't have to go every week?

I didn’t do that on a 20K deal and learned after that(my check was under $200). 

Always do your due diligence folks, search for their name on here, check for criminal and civil court cases in the county they live/do business in, etc. 

We have an event this Saturday Feb 12, 2022, you can check out the Bigger Pockets page for it here:https://www.biggerpockets.com/...The group's page on Meetup.com is at:https://www.meetup.com/real-es...There is a $5.00 contribution which you can do in cash at the meeting as well, it doesn't come close to covering the cost of the space but I may be able to get another space shortly. 

We're part of STR Secrets so if you've been checking out that group feel free to reach out!

Its no surprise that also took them a week to go and turn it off.I had 2 perspective tenants waiting for over a month with their national background check only to find out there were alternatives we could use to get a report in minutes but they refused to not use that company.Finally I get a tenant after 3 months on the market who is someone who was fully approved by the rent amount was 200 dollars less than market value a month so I agreed because it was just before winter when its harder to get someone in.

For networking and education, I recommend checking out CIREIA (Central Indiana Real Estate Investors Association).

Check out this site - https://theluxurypergola.com/blogs/louvered-roof-info/hurric...They cover wind resistant pergolas in general but I would make sure whatever you get will be able to stand up to hurricanes that happen there from time to time.

Also, be sure to check with the section 8 agency managing the tenants - sometimes if you pass on an additional cost like that they will no longer be eligible to live there if the rent and utilities exceed what they were approved for.