Especially, if you charge more for extra guests.

I know at the time of buying our first house the rate for the FHA loan was almost a full percentage lower than the rate on the 5% and when discussing California prices that extra 1.5% cash down can be a lot!

Emotional support animals are to be treated just like service animals you can't say no you can't charge extra rent or an extra deposit and it would just come from the normal deposit if the cat damaged the property.

If you are not prepared to do that then you will have difficulty.

My thoughts are that it never hurts to go the extra effort to make the contract as clear as possible as long as the additional provisions don't conflict with any other part of the contract.  

There are many investors who have experienced challenges with 3rd party management (and unapproved concessions are unacceptable).Now the tough love part...it's going to be difficult to make a profit with a $500-600/mth rental purchased for $55K (and impossible with 3rd party management...have to factor in extra vacancy and higher repair cost). 

I usually try to get as much info from each institution as possible before I let them run it so I am 99% sure I'll be approved before I give them the green light but this creates a bunch of extra work on my end.

It may sound nice to pay a 5% management fee but the extra fees can add up to be more than the other company that charges 10% with no add-on fees.

I have this idea that I will buy a 2-3 Bedroom town home while I am over there for grad school and live in it and rent the extra rooms out to help may the mortgage. 

In that case I would choose the HELOC with the stipulation that the reno will increase rents high enough for the extra income to pay off the HELOC within 2 years time.