I also am not a Toledo native, but love living, investing, and running a business watching others succeed here. 

In addition, you’ll have to pay the seller out of their equity as well.

Instead, I should:Record the net rent (gross rent minus PM fees and expenses) as income in QBO.Log any additional expenses I directly pay, such as mortgage payments, insurance, property taxes, and other business-related costs like gas for business travel, meals, business licenses, and office supplies.Does this approach align with the correct practice of differentiating property accounting from corporate accounting?

Any company insuring your properties without an inspection most likely has a clause buried deep in their policy allowing them to deny claims for conditions found on the property that do not meet their UW standards and they will deny you claim based on "the house should have not been insured with them anyway".Although the inspections can be annoying look at it from the other side.You pay them 1000 to 3000 a year to insure a rental property where they agree to pay out possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars if it burns down or up to 1 million if a tenant slips on a bananna peel and falls down the steps or the tenants dog bites someone and since you didn't enforce the tenant having their own renters policy to cover the dog bite the landlord's policy is paying out.The insurance company is very much like your rich uncle backing your business venture - you run the business, he takes on the financial risk from disasters, and doesn't even get a say in who lives in the property.Your rich uncle asking you to fix the steps, put up a handrail, etc which is in your and his best interest long term.Do you really want to rent out a property with a busted front step and a bad roof that is going to leak sooner than later?

I would start with your home state or the one that is closest to you if you do not live in a tax lien state.

I’d like to put a primary mortgage on it during renovation (once livable) to get the 12 month rental clock rolling.I know that I must live in this house the “majority of the year”.

We live in one side of our duplex in Plant City, FL, and I am wanting to ask if there are any local meet ups for investors in the Plant City, Tampa, St.

Now in purchase money states like the were we live risk of a default does not exist.. but in a State like Texas a seller could get twisted up pretty bad.

I live in Chicago area I need split system to work heating the same as the cooling. 

Is the rental appreciating in addition to the tenant paying down the mortgage for you?