But I believe my thorough methods will help me stand out.

Keep it to monthly at the most to prevent becoming a pest but persistence makes you stand out against the competition.Hope this helps!

It can, and you can base your decisions on that, it is not a discriminatory attribute,  At least outside of King County, I don't keep up on the King County specific laws.For now you can serve her a 3 day notice to comply and give her the option to stop.  

The rental market is not what you would call hot right now, but I am looking to attract decent renters and stand out.

Try to stand out a little more.

I want to stand out from others in the field and start young, giving me that extra edge and higher possibility of success.

@Dave Foster should be able to clarify- he's also an amazing 1031 intermediary to work with, and has a stand out reputation. 

A 401k loan has some risks...get layed off and have to pay it back or pay the 10% early penalty as well as income taxes if you cannot.A self-directed IRA is the typical retirement savings vehicle to invest in RE but it has undesireable attributes too.If you are young, you could diversify internationally or dip a little into emerging markets....they are not as highly valued.

it's worth around $1.5MM with 2/3 of that attributable to land value.i would like to get as much money as possible out (say $1MM) of the house for investment purposes at as low a cost as possible.are there any banks/institutions who will write a mortgage where i don't have to buy home owners insurance (the cost is sky high)?

The more mysterious your letter seems (using different color paper, somehow making the letter stand out without giving away any info until opened), the more likely your letters will be read.Hope this works!