If this Contractor likes you, you like him - and trust him and he works well for you (great quality, consistent scheduling) then I would stick with him because you found the needle in the haystack.So rather than try to lower your prices/quality, why not become the Investor that people know will provide that kind of quality and service and charge top dollar for your product?

Usually the amount of land improvements which are on a 15-year schedule play a big factor.The examples you gave, roof, heating systems, water heaters, are generally considered 'structural' 27.5 year property and wont help towards your accelerated depreciation at all.

I need to get on your travel schedule…!

@William SievingI am completely old school on renovation schedules and timelines.

I will then pay them off ahead of schedule, and just put them in a llc when that happens. 

I have taken my real estate courses and only need to schedule the exam now which will be within the first week of March.  

For maintenance team management, FieldAware allows technicians schedules to be prioritized and easily tracked with job "Start", "Pause", and "Completed" status reporting, and mobile GPS tracking.Currently, I use MRI X which seems to be specialized for apartment and community manage and allows for a lot of back-end modifications.

And yes I would treat LLC as a disregarded entity for tax purposes when you do buy your first property which means you report your property on your own personal return on schedule E.

A replacement reserve fund is intended to pay for major systems replacements on a predicted schedule.  

When we have had to travel the bank has held the checks and deposited them on the first themselves.Electronic payment requires action from the tenant in that they have to either initiate a one time payment each month on the first or they have to schedule a recurring payment for the first.