@Robert Leonard, so essentially what is most important to you is communication and assurance?

I talked to a lawyer today about this, and paraphrasing him, he essentially thought there was no reason to make that illegal and I felt like he thought it was silly. 

Thanks Mark, that's essentially what I'm trying to do but as you note it can be a little tricky when it's not worth it to fix an appliance that the tenant has damaged. 

So all your contracts are good for pursuing lawsuits and collections later, but a huge headache and expense now, with essentially no recourse to actually recover your losses and judgement. 

The downfall to this is that the overall market rate for rentals is essentially capped at the rate of which DoD pays service members for housing here (most single family rentals are in the $800-$1200 range)With this being an active duty base, deployments are going to happen; however, the vast majority of soldiers living in off post housing receive their housing allowance due to being married or with dependents, most of which remain in the area and paying rent while the service member is deployed. 

I am talking about the district heights area, but really any place 20-30 minutes from eastern market. 

The $500 is essentially saying they aren't offering a co-op commission.

I think using the word "fool" is a bit strong, as I am taking it that you're essentially calling the poster (or me?)

If after 6 months the property appraises for ~$165K as estimated, I could get a loan of ~$123K - ~$93K ($98K- $5K reinstatement) owed to retire original loan, leaving ~$30K cash out which is essentially getting cash invested back and still holding the asset.

Mortgage payment is $1,000 on each house, so you're essentially earning $500 per house or $2,000 a month.