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.

For example, if you have a duplex and estimate it is going to earn $1,200 a month ( at $600 for each unit) You can never really assume you will make $1,200 a month because the leases will not be synced and you could see a reoccurring vacancy.

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.   

I'll just monitor this thread and hope to learn something from it.  

You are not going to continue to invest time and energy in monitoring rent collection.