. #2 Stay focused and remember you are in control

Ideally, you can just non-renew his lease and get a non-smoker in there, but I don't get the impression you want to be that aggressive yet.

Remember- many people over-estimate what they can do in a year... but nearly everyone UNDERESTIMATES what they can do in 10. 

In the case of direct mail, it is important to remember that on average it takes a few touches before the potential seller actually picks up the phone and takes action.

Ideally it would be designed to "over-produce" enough during sunny months to save up enough Net Metered kWh credits from your utility to get you through the less sunny months without an issue.

Generally proof of funds and ideally a letter of intent to lend to you, in most cases the seller would see it as a cash offer unless the lender has to approve the specific property you are offering on.

Remember, in order to wholesale, an investor needs to get it cheap enough to be able to make a profit in between and still sell it cheap enough to be a deal for the next guy. 

In the worst case this could be a tenant trying to pull something shady...At a minimum level go with something like Venmo or PayPal to send payments through a third party—but ideally start using a software like Cozy or Roof to manage your properties and collect payments all together.

Remember as people age they sometimes forget to do things and you don't want them racking up fees by forgetting to make payments.

I remember when the banks were dumping REOs on the market in Vegas daily for under $50k .. those days are long gone of course .