Manufacturing it retroactively for the current year sounds too much like fraud.GROUP 3: Tax strategies that really are for EOY considerationPlace rental properties in service. 

I'll take any and all advice any of you have, but the two things I'm looking for specifically are: what sites, services, and/or software you use and recommend for sceening and managing tenants? 

Make sure it explicitly explains the process for termination if you are unhappy with their services, especially if they violate the terms of your agreement.3.

the fee-based services seem worthwhile at least while actively looking.   

REIAs are a business and they need guest speakers who 95% of the time have something or service to sell.. informal meetups are a waste of time in my mind hate them.. boring.

If you find someone that seems to know a lot of people needing your services, wouldn’t it make sense to focus more resources on them?

The plan is to put the rentals in SCH E of our joint return and file with TurboTax-We live in Florida-Leases under my wife's name, Airbnb app under my name, dedicated bank account for all rentals activity in the name of both-We have umbrella policy for liability protection for the rentals-We leverage some contractors (for example cleaning lady for the Airbnbs or lawn maintenance guy) that we pay >$600 for their services in a year and they are not our employees.

Yes the biggest issue was they grew way too fast and he set up an entire servicing company to handle all of their deals.

This level of service is NOT typical for the Lehigh Valley, and it’s certainly not what we’ve experienced with our PM or others we know in the area.A property manager should be proactive in tenant placement, responsive to inquiries, and transparent about efforts to fill vacancies.

In a perfect situation, the payment will still be delayed (even if by hours) using this additional system.And secondly, many of these vendors have "clawback" provisions where, in their terms of service, you give them permission to go back into your account - even weeks after the fact - and reverse a deposit that was made by your tenant.My system is simple, allows for tenants to pay through multiple means, and does not cost me anything extra.