Since the $425 mortgage insurance payment is included into our monthly mortgage payment already, what happens to that escrowed money when we change loans?

It gets folded in with a bunch of "Fannie - No Overlay" deals that include marginal credit, heavily leveraged real estate investors, down payment assistance, DTI that barely works, et cetera.

This includes servers and real estate agents among others.

Carmen Falcone start with doing the PM yourself so that you get a good appreciation for it, but include the PM numbers in your budget so that you can always elect to have one in the future.

Or does this include insurance and taxes for the year.

I've been an accredited investor for many years now, and invested in many deals, including some angel investments in startup companies.  

From the Landlord association, I've heard that if this passes for Independence, other cities around Kansas City including Blue Springs and Lee's Summit would be soon to follow...

However it will not include their off market deals of which most top agents have some.

You hint 'I wouldn't live there' -- GREAT RULE for success IMO -- I use that rule of thumb for everything I did with REI, including the maintenance. 

There are a lot of great resources here including the podcasts and I believe there are a few free books as well (including the Bigger Pockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide).