I currently live out of state so I couldn't just go to florida to check out the property.I’ve contacted Rent to Retirement and my credit card company to dispute the charges.

Hey Elia - Welcome to BP!

A way to protect against this is to stagger the new leases / rent increases. 5.

I can understand not wanting to relinquish control for a profitable property.

Cutting corners to save time might seem like a good idea, but it can lead to expensive repairs later on.

You should have insurance to cover fires.

Its going to get hit. 

The few condos to come on the market that I've talked to recently, all have this restriction in place.

I absolutely collected first, last and security for my class-C rentals until NYS prohibited that practice back in 2019.Many tenants cannot manage their money properly, so this mitigates the issue of not being paid last month's rent when they need to move and the new landlord is receiving those funds they have allocated for their housing during the last month of their stay.This was also helpful to me to pre-screen who has their financial house in order and had saved for their moving costs as part of their planning.If I still could, I most definitely would - without exception.

Be sure to attend your local REI meetups to build up a strong network and check out the forum topics specific to your goals.