Empty countertops are dull, so adding some cute (clean) towels, fruit bowls, even cookie jars go a long way to add some personality.

He's telling you to wait a week because you're going to go look at cars in person, or put your contact info on some website, to "think about it" a week earlier than whatever he tells you (this is 100% true, and as a lender I will not believe you if you tell me otherwise... sorry :P ), and the second you walk onto that car lot a bunch of car salesmen are going to descend upon you, deploying various lines of BS as a pretext to run your credit ("it's a soft pull" or "we just need your SSN to verify you aren't a terrorist, we aren't going to run your credit") and close you on a car that very day, and there is greater than a 0% chance you will believe what they tell you and screw everything up.The rule is that whatever you tell homebuyers not to do, some non-trivial percentage of them are going to push it one notch farther than you tell them.

For example I provide two towels to each traveler and at the end I tally what I provide and if things are ruined or take.

These expenses are including, utilities if you pay for them, maintenance, yard care, pest control, insurance, advertising, property manager etc etc.these often come up to well over $3000 per door - depending on the market..$750. sounds to low for all expenses.

With short-term rentals, you are responsible for those things but also things like pool care, lawn care, pest control, electrical, cable, furniture maintenance, dishes/towels/utensils/etc, cleanings, (you see where i'm going with this), essentially you are operating a hotel. 

I have bathrooms setup with basics (toilet paper, nice towels, soap, etc).

If you're too soft to deal with tenants, or unskilled at marketing your property, then it doesn't matter if you live next door to the property - you should probably put it under PM.

Definitely a balance between the economics and soft skills.

Contact us when you need to know which towels.

by not being stern and acting by the letter of the law, tenants will see you soft and further *attempt* to take advantage of you.Don't let them do that. once you put your foot down, they know they can't stretch things, and have to let "other" payments slide, but not the rent.Counter to intuition, this won't make them leave, it will make them respect you for enforcing the terms of the contract.FYI for those offended: I'm a hobby landlord turning pro. :)