We used boric acid ( my dads suggestion) and made a perimeter around the yard extents, then half way between the house and yard, and finally at the basement walls of the house.

You cant carry an acid test kit and drill around with you to drill and test every payment you receive.

The moral of the story here is with the variety of jurisdiction and the variety of note language among the differences between funding in cash and equity the notes will be less homogenous than what most tend to think.  

Manchester is a big thriving city that is still regenerating various areas and although developers flooded the market with new build flats a decade ago the inevitable drop in values and rentals has rectified it's self and growth is seen once more.With regard to further learning, local property meets where you can meet like minded investors (as well as someone pitching education and a variety of services) are invaluable to round your opinions and hear from people who are in the same position as you or were some time ago.As far as rental locations for students be mindful of the swathe of new builds in the bigger cities that have been build by universities them selves and the growing number that have build with investors in mind.

I've seen a variety of new virtual tour sites popping up.

There's a number of us in SE MI doing a variety of flavors of investing in various areas.

When oak is not in the budget, I'm in favor of laminate, and not the allure stuff, the 8mm click variety.

They keyword alert is very helpful too.There are many experienced investors on here that can discuss a variety of topics, so if you have a specific question, just post.

I see a variety of responses, and looks like most are bucketing "landlord friendly" as 1. relatively easy to evict  2.  

There are a variety ways to limit or eliminate MIL's control over the property by affecting the governance of the company that owns it.