And there are local (city, county, and state) requirements that are more stringent than the Federal requirements - not only for performing work, but also for disclosures.My question is: What type of seller actually agreed to perform lead paint testing?

A FICO score is one metric I'd measure at the beginning. 

You can not succeed with half measures.

Without reading through everything, how uneven are your floors. you can get a cheap laser to shoot across the floor then run a tape measure out about 10'.

Performance of my activities can be better managed and measured as opposed to me just acting alone commingling my personal affairs.

@Max Smith one thing to keep in mind, Mountain View just passed Measure V, so if your units are not producing, you'll start being capped to 2-5% max annual increases - between that and the interest rates rising next year, it might be a good time to get out, if that's an option.I swear, I'm not just saying that because I'm a realtor.

After negotiating for several weeks, I was able to buy the property for a huge discount, with another separate parcel of land thrown in for good measure.

Those are generally local banks with more stringent requirements on loans as they know the are is more risky ( less population, less growth, older towns,lower median incomes, aging population for workforce, etc.).At play also is the focus of the lender.

The real measurement in my opinion is what is the IRR vs the risk associated.

It is up to YOU to decide who to rent to AND what measures YOU put in place to protect your asset.If you hate win/win you probably want to have a PM in place so they can negotiate on your behalf.