Around here most of the concrete guys just pour straight to the edge but we don't get anywhere near the kind of freeze/thaw and ground movement that you'd get in Illinois, so you might want to have expansion board around the perimeter.

I have done an immense amount of work in my education phase from reading a few books by Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin as well as listening to the BP podcast and the real estate rookie podcasts daily.

@Scott Mac thank you very much for this. a few of these things i have not thought of. we are entering the due diligence phase and will definitely bring up these items. just curious, do you have any office spaces?

I work with investors who always manage from a distance - just have to have the right management team on the ground to make it work as long as everything else "adds up". 

Good luck and stay grounded, just not when holding the hot wire.Bill Mays Realtor, Plano TX

I closed on my second rental property 6 months ago, a 4 family in the Boston/Worcester/Lowell area in a C neighborhood. 3 units are doing fine, but the fourth unit (inherited tenant) has gone from bad to worse and has now pretty clearly developed into a drug den and includes needles on the ground and people with ankle bracelets staying there not on the lease.

The unit also has a pool ,hot tub,under ground parking and game room.

The property is in pretty good shape, but it could use some cosmetic updates and the in-ground pool probably hasn't been open in 5 years. 

They can act as your boots on the ground and check on the property when they’re cleaning and tell you when you’re running low on supplies, furniture is broken, etc.

Just be aware that the cost of the flooring itself isn't as important as how it looks once it's on the ground.