Then I would focus on growing relationships and building your core 4.

Its a personal decision for sure.

I checked with my realtor, who also checked with her broker and they felt that the personal contents transfer to the new owner of the property at settlement.I realize that I'm standing my ground over a $200 lawn mower, but feel like if they were given the items, they should've been removed in the months prior to the owner I purchased the property from listed it for sale and also settlement. 

The partner needs to pay the money she used for personal use and based on the math, if she leaves the partnership, she brings in less.

You need to build up your network as this business is all about relationships. 

Don't know where your rental property is, but in Florida, we have a statute that deals with death of last remaining tenant and the procedures to follow to allow the landlord to take possession of the property and dispose of the tenants personal property.

All our meetups that I personally attend. 

But then again maybe the person has some sort of safety net for the dog, meaning a relative with a farm or something that would take the animal and your renter could stay.

I am in Indiana as well, in our situation, it did not make any difference on our taxes if we left it in our personal name or transferred into an LLC. 

Personally I refuse to deal with any of the large banks, (Wells, BofA, Chase) and prefer to deal with smaller regional banks or credit unions.