I get to know them personally and get their phone numbers.. the buck stops with them normally.. in states out east or north east I am not sure I would risk much to do my own deals.. those areas are much more complicated than the CA OR WA ID NV stuff  

However, I asked for a rent roll and found that the tenant was only paying 50% of the normal rent due to the pandemic.

That's the amount of depreciation deduction you take every year.Unless you really have a superdupey perfoming rental, you should normally, at best, be in the break even ball park. 

If economy is normal, we can expect housing market to have a little over 2% appreciate per year just to beat 2% inflation. 

In a seller's market, using rehab loans can be more challenging, but in a normal or even a buyer's market, they are much easier. 

Now if you wait till life is more back to normal it might be a valid play.

If you are more comfortable with a lease that you created (b/c you know it's a good one) that shouldn't be a problem, but a MTM would be sufficient with a note that you are waiving your normal lease requirements due to their long history of good tenancy etc.

They paid more closing costs than normal to boot.

They paid more closing costs than normal to boot.

They paid more closing costs than normal to boot.