Lose the tenant in the SFH for any length of time and you have zero coming in.

My ads always have the rent, utilities the tenants pay, amenities, appliances, schools, security deposit, length of lease, type of heat (gas, electric, oil) central air, fireplaces, garages, off street parking, who cuts the lawn and shovels snow (hint its not me), credit and criminal checks, and neighborhood highlights like busline, and police station in the next block.. 

Well, to answer your question directly, the only way to guarantee rent payment is to have the renter prepay rent up to the maximum allowable time period and have the length of your lease be that exact length too.

If you decide to do a familiar venture, make sure you put it in writing and treat it as an arms length transaction.

They will get a steady income for the length of the loan.

All transactions need to be engaged in at arm's length, meaning that you or lineal family cannot use the assets of the plan or pay yourself for management.  

You should look for length of time in the business, depth of experience and expertise, availability of team to answer questions, Fidelity Bond and E&O insurance coverage, check online reviews and secretary of state website to verify they are in good standing, etc. 

I just had a house I own appraised for a refinance. Another SFH rental I have may have just postponed the refi from happening until this issue is resolved...Has anybody had experience with holding on to the appraisal ...

I work with credit challenged clients all day, every day and the five things you can control are your payment history, your debt load or amounts owed (which should be no higher than 30% of your available line of credit - do this for your revolving debt), length of history so keep your cards open, new inquiries can really ding your score so first find out what are the underwriting guidelines before you let anyone pull your credit.  

The general length is about 30min, take them thru why the market, deal and team makes this a solid investment.