So I guess that settles that.The take away from this is that anytime a tenant suggest longer than a normal lease term it should be seen as a BIG RED FLAG. 

@Yoni WeisbrodHa...analysis paralysis be thy name (ok, not really cause you're asking good questions, but do not let questions hinder you from action).It requires a combination of patience and boldness to be successful in this, from my experience. 

I use a yellow legal pad from Office Depot and a red Pilot G2 pen because I like the way it writes.

Ours is a red hot real estate market and there are many investors going after the same houses- sometimes, you can jump at a house, just to even GET one, and you overpay because it needs more work than anticipated.

What are some red flags I should avoid?

After the nasty situation I described in #3 above, I also listen much more carefully for little red flags.

On another forum, I posted a question about finding a red wire when trying to hang ceiling fans in a 50's house.That's helpful but I'm finding current on the red/white wires, not the black/ground. 

First thing I did was reset the circuit breaker, still no hot water so I hit the red reset button on the upper element.

Steve I go to the Cape every year, stay at the Red Jacket.  

Give them a call if you need some work done.The Red is the Waterproofing membrane that I put on before he started tiling...Finally after about 3 months of working on and off, getting the plumbers to work, tile guy to do his job, and us to build, paint, insulate, level and shim, we ended up with a final product which we are really proud of.