I don't want to be taking health and legal chances, but I am also trying to avoid numerous payouts before committing to purchasing the property. 

To avoid this sort of miscommunication with future applicants, I'd suggest asking a question on your initial application similar to "When would you like to move in?"

I'd really like to avoid unnecessary vacancies and would like to at least have the option of showing a unit as soon as I know the tenant won't be renewing.

. :)Avoid the guys that have been doing it 10 years but are still forced to rely on paid advertising.

Want to avoid as many mistakes as possible as far as the leases go, although I'm sure i will make them!

I avoid areas with high crime due to lower quality of tenants and increase in property break-ins.

I know what to look for , and what to avoid.

I wonder if there's a way to structure things so that there are monetary incentives for the PM when they keep a tenant in place long term (reducing turnover), and perform enough preventative maintenance to avoid high cost repairs that could have been prevented.

Selling price - outstanding mortgage principle - selling costsI just want to avoid paying taxes on the selling price of the property when I actually only received a portion of it minus all the costs and mortgage principle.Cheers,Mike

Did we learn anything, yes but alot of half-truths too.Came home and created a Nevada S-Corp and put an LLC under it, assuming we would go national.Property bought was in Calif, so more expense to Foreign File both entities.Started looking into creating my own Property Mgmt (PM) business to control out-of-state holdings.Then I learned:PM requires a broker's license or to be under his control almost everywhereThat stopped National expansionwhich then made the S-Corp and LLC unnecessary (to me; I accepted personal risk)Did get good liability insurance and suggest an extra Umbrella policy if you're going to buy&hold (aka become a landlord).