I did call the foreclosure attorney to confirm the deposit and that it's still active. 

.- THE BIGGEST ONE: underestimating or completely excluding vacancy and maintenance reserves.

@Jay Hinrichs  I have a few rentals already leveraged at a modest ~60% LTV, and my W2 is with the military and due to living frugaly I am able to save ~3k/month from the military income alone and have more than enough cash reserves so I am not worried in the least about being overstretched and unable to pay the loan.Even if you are able to buy a property at a discount, a 25% downpayment is still relatively expensive so the ability to avoid that problem would be nice. 

Originally posted by @Steve Cohen:@Wesley W.if you serve someone a three day notice and after three days you start the eviction process and they make a deposit into your account. it will avoid the eviction process and you'll lose out on the money that you spent with the attorney and have to start all over againSteve, I had the same concern because I allow my tenants to deposit rent into my bank account, but I confirmed with my (very experienced) California landlord-tenant attorney that it's actually not the case. 

Property managers hate to be hounded but at some point they should expect it; i.e. 3 month vacant unit.Here are my suggestions for you and your property manager:Understand Your Management Agreement:  Read the agreement and confirm what their requirements are for unit turnovers. 

An Emergency fund is highly recommended in the beginning, and will be absolutely required by lenders as you accumulate rentals (but it will be called “reserves.”)Take your time.  

Damage to garage door after partying or fighting reported by other tenants and only now confirmed by seller's agent.Furthermore, one of the tenants on the 3rd floor has reported to me that tenant of second floor has made threats to physically harm her.

@Justin Kane I used sapphire reserve to pay for it so I think disputing wouldn't be too hard but I want both sides to be happy obviously.When you say reimburse, does AMEX pay you back while not paying the contractors then ?

I never give tenants gifts, gifts are reserved for family.

Thanks for confirming that you must be an agent to get the commission @Bob Okenwa.You would not use one, so that you get the 3% commission back, either in terms of a discount on the property, or via cash.