If it this is a fairly typical tenant for the area, maybe switch to weekly or bi-weekly payments on a new MTM lease and charge a pet fee.

My concern is that currently, the monthly mortgage payment (~$2,700) will be higher than average rent for a 1 bedroom (~2,400). 

While in theory this is great, even if you find a property below market value you run into two issues in today's market.The first issue is buying low enough to recuperate your expenses and down payment.

In the Denver area it was almost an entirely cash market--we once received payment of nearly $50k, in one hundred dollar bills, in recycled baby wipe tubs.

For primary residences, lenders typically don't require PITI (Principal, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance) reserves beyond the down payment and closing costs.

After recently speaking to loan professionals I have become aware of the fact that after you have a couple of properties lenders will require that you have 3-6 months of reserves for your loan payments for each properties on hand. 

Surprisingly, Craigslist yielded the best results as I found my first tenant whom has renewed twice already and has never been late or missed any payments.

How did you come up with the down payment with each property?

If your looking at a SFR property, have good credit, and 5% down payment instead of 3.5% you may be able to get a better deal with a conventional loan. 

And is there any path to a lower down payment using creative financing, or is 20% pretty much what it is?