Sales contract and my title paper work never indicated a homeowner association.

The target property almost definitely has to be a value add minimally distressed property that can be refinanced after repairs, or a straight up fix and flip.

Before starting the 2nd I wanted to put into the contract a clause that indicates a daily fee if they go past the due date. 

I assume for most folks this would fall into credit cards and this indicates someone else is willing to lend the borrower money. 

Some of them still pay for cleaning and repairs but it's usually pretty minimal and they get the majority of their deposit back.The ones that burn me are the ones with only a month of rent.

The cap ex costs in the unit is very minimal and the repairs you do would be mainly cosmetic so what's great for someone starting out.

You have a right to enter as long as you give proper notice, and there is no requirement that he be present.this could be a very innocent request from the tenant but it could also be an indication something is wrong.

You might have decent odds if you are buying almost new class A in an A location but then cash flow can be minimal and purchase price higher but still might be cheap compared to California.Example a 4 unit in another state for an A location might be 400k but in California maybe who knows 1.5 to 2 million or something like that.

Quality of service and pricing definitely do not correlate, as many of the higher-priced custodians have some of the least responsive customer support.With checkbook plans, the role of the custodian is minimized and you may find a very low flat-fee for the custodial administrative services- usually not on the custodian's web site, but by private arrangement with the advisory firms like mine that offer the legal and consulting side of the service. 

You agree to pay the monthly rent indicated above via deposit to the following checking account at BANK: account # 123456; routing # 123456  (nearest branch is 123 Main Street, Albany, NY).