The company encouraged this and gave a 10% discount for paying a full year in advance if you met their criteria for an established baseline etc. so it was a win-win situation.If I was the owner with someone wanting to rent from me and pay a full year I would require a "baseline" to qualify which would probably be something along the lines of renting for at least 1 full year previously with no issues.

@Jeremy Helsabeck I’ll be the first to encourage you to take advantage of living in one of the best RE markets in the country.

After listening to Bigger Pockets Podcast for two months and reading a couple of the recommended books, I decided to take action ( highly encouraged by the guests in the shows ). 

Being a realtor, property manager, renovating houses, analyzing deals, residential, commercial, etc.I'd encourage you to go to the local REIA / REIC and meet people. 

I would highly encourage it.

I will post here as I move forward in analysis and I encourage others to post their deals here also.

If they are below market, you can encourage them to stay by keeping the rent a little low but I don't recommend more than a 10% discount.

As long as they do their due diligence and understand the downsides and see that it works for them, they should be ENCOURAGED.

Thanks for the tip and encouragement.

On the other hand, he was probably successful on many occasions which encouraged him to continue the behavior.