When you take over  officially notice them on who to pay and how.

Keep in mind development policies are implemented through local and state govmit.. and by elected officials. so in reality is the citizens that live there that elect in officials with certain stances on development  NO growthers and pro growthers. 

A lot of good deals can be had by approaching and developing relationships with city and county officials.

Recently I have looked into the possibility of annexing the property into the city, and have met with city planning officials to understand that process, and it looks like it will be my best path forward as I could technically build up to 45-50 homes on it, but realistically I would go for about 20 with larger lots.While the annexation and re-zoning seems more likely than not, it will take 4-6 months according to the official I met with until we have all of the approvals necessary.

She's a good tenant except for this issue.Can I legally ask her in an email to remedy the smoke issue by the next walk through, and also threaten her with official notices if it's not resolved in that same email?

Last time I checked, the official position of the State Real Estate Commission is that the general law on property management applies to vacation rentals as well.

I have a date planned in my mind that I’m going to start officially searching an investment.

have all the roommates sign it and maybe get it notarized to make it "official".  

You may be able to review the language in those to see how similar your contract looks.You need to watch out for allowances in the contract.

Closing guy said that the language in the main contract that referenced the assign-ability was ambiguous but he felt that the take away was the assignment wasn't valid.