The current plan my contractor has is ~4' of mulch on the perimeter, a clean brick outline maybe like this, and gravel for the main body of the yard.

The tenants in the property were barely screened, just a warm body placed, and then after the new owners owns for a couple of month, there is no cash flow, the tenant must be evicted and after eviction and in the process of finding a new, actually qualified tenant, the house gets ripped and stripped and the owner who paid too much to begin with now needs to put another $8 to $10k in the property before they can rent it.So - learn your sellers, some are one and done and some want an ongoing relationship with you. 

Perhaps, but the body builder who wrote off his body oil purchases didn't think inside the box when that happened. 

The contingency reserve may be released only if required, necessary, and unforeseen repairs or deficiencies are discovered during the renovation.

I don't know I would be astounded if I got two separate lenders or servicers on a call.most of these deals you never talk to anyone.. its always written correspondence once you have the owners written authorization to release mortgage information. 

In turn I've abused my body to the point that as a relatively intelligent person I've begun to ask myself, am I really doing things the right way?

Nowhere else on the main body of the form is that name listed. 

The lien gets released from the house, of course the actual debtor still owes the money. 

In Phx and Vegas and parts of FLA and central CA  rents went to zero and stayed there.. simply more units than bodies to fill them.. biggest issue in this one was new construction dried up and went to zero.. so labor sub contractors of every variety had no work.. so they just up and left ..

Since it was a rental agreement instead of a lease agreement, I'm unable to find the answer.Usually if you break a lease you are responsible for the rent until it is re-leased.