See: 1031 boot  Now, I've taken a real estate accounting course in the past which covered this, but it was over 20 years ago.

With 1 month fee of your rent portion and provided the new tenant passes our screening process” (credit and background checks, employment and pay stub verification etc.).

I've been reading about landlord insurance to cover liabilities and damages.

So we are actually in need of 2 leases, i want one for the SFR that covers specific items like the tenants responsibility to maintain the landscaping, and one for the Townhome that covers things like "abide by the HOA rules or you are violating the lease". these are relatively minor differences but very important. so my question is........should i look to buy the package from BP and go to a lawyer to tweak that lease?

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on tenant screening?

You got it pretty much covered

Knowing nothing about your market, if you have done a good job screening and lacing your new tenants, the market clearly supports rents at the $700 price level - now it's time to get a plan in place to get the rest of the occupants up to this level.Consider making a plan for getting the rents to market level over the course of six months or a year - whatever time period best suits your risk tolerance and go for it.  

Any breed of dog can be allowed IF the tenant gets a rider on their renter's policy covering any "insurance classified dangerous breed". 

You are going to make mistakes and you want to have enough of a cushion to be covered.

What are some reliable sites that you all (property managers and/or Landlords) use to screen a tenant?