Asking rent is $2550 + utilities, first last security deposit is $7650 (which both strike me as a ton of money and beyond what I'd comfortably choose to afford, but this area is kinda going nuts).Last night, the most recent prospective tenant (single mom and high school daughter) said she would sign a 2-year lease and have the cash to me before Monday.The other competing tenant (family of 4) is actually former tenants. 

Best of luck, definitely not a common situation.

If you plan to remove this garage kitchen, I would consider keeping the sink for use as a utility sink.

Is there a simple Finder's Fee template which contains enough protection to handle these common transactions?

Is it possible to suspend the depriciation clock on a SFH utilized as a rental.

I don't know why you're having a difficult time finding a bank to do a refinance for your investments.This is a very common and typical practice so I would suggest calling a few more banks or credit unions.

Also some damage may not be able to covered by security deposit. 2. more roofs = more capital expenditure. replacing fixtures like roofs/windows etc. costs the same size house, regardless of price of the house3. less able to utilize leverage4. higher turn around with these tenants. if you are using a property manager, this also means more replacement fee for the tenants.One other thing to note is if you can find a home that can be rented for $2000 a month for $200K, why would anyone want to rent that from you?

Its not hard to get the exact taxes, PMI, historical utilities, etc. for a property. leave another 10% capex, 5% vacancy, 10% management costs (even if you self manage)1% rule is just a very broad way to value something.

And no, this is not common but it does happen.

For starters, you could use the common real estate websites like Zillow and Trulia.