I've lived in Memphis for 20 years (by choice!) 

Have you observed lien stripping when there is sufficient equity?

However, with family and kids (one toddler and one infant), it's unlikely to be of viable choice to us.

I read the article, which was informative and well-written, but I didn't see anything to contradict the idea that, if you used a home equity line of credit secured by a personal residence to provide money for your investment activities, you have a choice.

In Cali appraisers have no choice but to defer back to older comps no matter how far they go back or how far they have to navigate away from the area.BTW, FYI, This is also a very pervasive challenge for folks who want to purchase a HUD MH on a private lot or parcel surrounded by other SFR's in the immediate area.

This job taking up a lot of my time which i would rather be using to get me towards my goal of financial freedom of which real estate investing is my vehicle of choice!

I have offered some guests the choice to pay through Paypal, which has a significantly lower service fee, but is there a free site that I can use?  

It is a competitive market but I'm sure your other choices are too.

They'll claim you  should have known it couldn't be cleaned, or that the cleaning was sufficient enough because it was done by a pro and therefore the carpet didn't need replaced.I'd rather charge for the replacement and have them say it could have been just cleaned.

If you already included the make and model from a HVAC company you trust then they are providing your quality workmanship already by you choosing them over the sellers choice.