It is always good to see experienced members coming on to BP, I am sure you will have a to to add in a lot of conversations.

Brian, you'll be able to do a taxwise conversion of a prior primary residence to a rental and start depreciation.

Well, an oil tank would be an environmental issue, not a title issue (for the most part) - and the severity of the problem (and how much you actually need to worry about it) has a lot to do with how the property is zoned (commercial or residential) and what your state's environmental laws are (this all leads to an entirely different conversation from the one we're having about the title).

Granted I'm going to heavily screen people.I guess my current plan is to take the New York State standard lease, add a bunch of items into it that I want.

I totally agree that the loan associated with that purchase will be scrutinized very closely, will almost always require two separate appraisals, both ordered by the lender, and a letter of explanation on how the property was acquired for such a low price along with an itemized list of repairs completed may also be necessary.

Be sure to set up some Keyword Alerts for topics that you are knowledgeable about (like "mold") so you can pop into those conversations to offer advice!

While you are getting the details on the program from a landlords perspective, at the end of the conversation tell the person that it all sounds pretty good but you would like to speak directly to several other landlords in the program to see what their thoughts are about the program and ask them of a list of landlords that you can contact.

Then, you can pop into the conversations that matter the most to you.

Here is a list of great books: The Best Real Estate Books Ever Keep us posted on how things are going & take part in conversations on the forums.

Be sure to set up some Keyword Alerts for topics that interest you, like "Milwaukee" so you can jump into those conversations.