Her asking price is a square deal and I'm ready to make an offer tomorrow, but she has no real estate experience and I have none sans-agent.Any crash course advice for a newbie who has no fear of doing the necessary work, but I don't know what I don't know.Here is how I think it might need to go:1) Make a formal written offer (Find a standard real estate contract & make the offer for both parties to sign.  

I am committing my self to this job for at least a year so that I don't have to repay a signing bonus but after that I will be up in the air on what to do.

At least that is what it says in my rental agreement that I have guests sign.

One has two dogs and just signed, giving me an extra $600 a year on that one unit.

same boat as you guys and I just went through this process buying 2 properties (sign unseen).     

Example: I signed a contract on a house in January (cash deal).

If their renewal is long way off, you could do a spot inspection and if you find anything in disarray or that goes against the lease they signed you can order them to rectify and say random spot inspections will be conducted [with a 24 hour notice, of course]. 

Month two we heard everything from he was getting a sign on bonus, collecting a debt, to the check got lost in the mail.

(not so important but if they only require 15% down on a single family home that is usually a good sign that you are working with a flexible lender) Can I change title to my LLC?

Do they typically assign their contracts or double close (if they assign it to you then they would need to provide a contract to you before signing their assignment FYI) What do you have available now?