You will be researching your own rent levels, your own vacancy, your own landscaping budgets, your own repair estimates based on unit condition, etc.  

I was just informed from my mortgage company that in their eyes a point = .125 so if my rate is currently 6.375 buying 1pt would drop it to 6.250.  

He basically made up numbers based on what he needed.

Just for the accidental times when they have the bathroom heat off because its hot out and they go on vacation for 3 weeks with the door closed and the temp here drops under freezing.

It depends on the deal, but what we did was give the PMP (Private Money Partner) 50% equity in the property to fund the entire entry fee.Thats not necessarily a rule of thumb.This to me is a sliding scale based on the Cash on Cash return you can expect.Further , we offered our partner 75% of the cash flow until they are paid back in full, then the cash flow return drops down to 50%.All liabilities would also be split 50% with this partner.We called the company we use , who establishes our LLCs, opened an LLC, wrote up an operating agreement and a JV agreement that outlined all of our responsibilities for the asset.

I would greatly appreciate any tips, recommendations, or cautionary tales you can share based on your own experiences.Specifically, I'm interested in learning about different creative financing methods, potential pitfalls to watch out for, and any legal or financial considerations that I should be aware of before proceeding. 

Without a few base hits you won't catch the investing bug and win long term. 

Appraisals are based on comps so probably negligible value diff.  

I would even obtain a COFI arm permanent loan where the payments were based on an interest rate lower than what the market rates were.

I won't go check in on them every day but I will "drop in" unexpectedly, or I will call them on "facetime", or I will have a trusted individual show up just to see what is going on.