I was also strict on the rent due dates.

I own a condo in uptown, I think its a great area.However, many condo associations have strict laws in terms of rental numbers.For example, the condo I own went to 80% owners and 20% renters a few years after I purchased.  

The only safe contract is with one person, who has the right to sublease with strict guidelines. 

My company focuses strictly on residential lending.

I would only ever advise on hiring on an hourly rate under the following strict conditions:You know the contractor to be hardworking and honestYou know the trade inside and out and know the amount of time it'll takeYou'll be around to monitor the work.The idea of milestones sounds good in theory, but the reality is there's still ways for you get burned because its so hard to account for everything in advance and measure everything.  

They aren't too strict

The partners use the K1's to prepare taxes.If that's what you're doing, you are, strictly speaking, "selling securities". 

Today I missed out on a property that went to auction strictly because of cold feet.

Depends, are you looking strictly for turnkey properties or do you want to do some rehab?

Plant the seed then if they come back and ask to rent it, we would tell them this is strictly business and you would abide by any rules that a tenant would have too.