Conversely, all of your renovation, holding charges, etc. would be "cost of goods sold" and can be deducted as expenses rather than being capitalized.  

Commercial properties, by lending standards, are 5+ unit multifamily assets.

With a Tenants (aka Renters) policy, they would pay the deductible ($100, $250, $500, ... depends on what they select) and then the Insurance company pays the cost to replace the items up to the policy limit.2.

And since there is no lender lien that will be filed on the property, there would be no need for the standard purchase agreement/closing.

My reasoning for having the LLC sign a lease on each property is, 1) for refinancing or getting a new loan, our mortgage person said it looks better on paper to have rental income coming in from a lease than a "short-term rental", and 2) the rent that the LLC will be paying us is tax deductible as a business expense (for the LLC) when we file at the end of the year. 

Again, no SE tax so no 1/2 deduction.

Also, the PA Association of Realtors has a standard form for it, and that form includes phrasing that requires the seller to present the offer which triggered the escalation.

If anything, it means a standard 2-3% rent increase at the minimum.As for the pet, that's up to you, for the litany of reasons mentioned before (hardwood that can be damaged, complaining neighbors etc.) but if you do so it will definitely require additional security deposit.

Why are people generally not ok with “feeding” a rental property with negative cash flow, when they basically do this every day with standard retirement accounts?

We look at the bottom line, and if you are deducting everything to limit your tax liability, we have to use the income that ended up being taxed.