And it’s an easy destination to market towards (a Zillow link for the property posted on Facebook, email, text, etc) people tend to remember Zillow easier than property managers website.

Your intermediary must be in place at the closing of the sale. 

One must develop a comprehensive discipline for analysis and negotiations to help ensure their success in this niche. 

I would make it clear in the lease that rent must be received by the due date so you have a stronger argument if this issue were put before the judge.

Consideration must be exchanged for a transaction to even be legal.I'm not a fan of land contracts because you don't own it until you pay it off, but some kind of mortgage/deed of trust via seller financing would be my go-to here @Daniel H TruexBe patient with the refi part.  12 months is nothing in RE horizons. 

If you want to avoid ending up in court everything you say must be very limited. 

So you must take it out of the account and send it to them, even if it is only 50 CENTS.

By law, you must delead if a family wants to rent. 

We trusted this guy so much especially since he had worked with a pretty big broker in our area and thought, "this guy has X amount of years of experience and works with all of these agents who are investors, he must be good".

I like it, because with that higher rent, it looks like it must be in a good neighborhood (better quality tenant should bring better maintenance and vacancy costs)