Possibly buying a home that is for sale by owner.  

Of course you should vet the potential GP to make sure they have the wherewithal and bandwidth to execute the project correctly and in the most timely manner as possible.

So, for those utilities its usually better to either include them in the rent (if they are flat fee) or possibly to bill them back (if based on usage).

Finally, some shared expenses related to the entire house such as landscaping have their own complexities. 

You can check at the courthouse for recorded mortgages etc, but there are liens that may not be possible to determine such as an unfiled mechanics lien.

Our entire justice system is falling apart.

Tenant did not maintain bath vanity and it sustained irreparable water damage.Unfortunately the vender does not sell the drawer face individually, but only sells the entire vanity.

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.

There are lockable thermostats for commercial use, but I can't see that working in a rental.I think the main issue will always be that any thermostat that you can set a minimum temperature in will always be susceptible to this fail safe failing, due to the possibility the tenant could change it on purpose or on accident.I'd hope in a 4 plex as long as there is no building defect to the thermal envelope that it would be difficult for one units pipes to freeze as long as the other units were occupied, seeing as they share some common walls/ceilings.

Furthermore, electing to be taxed as a C Corp entirely changes your taxation, usually for the worse.