The black appliances look cleaner after use and getting black appliance paint to touch it up blends better than trying to touch up white appliances.Another option is to try to rent it without appliances and give the tenants a one time credit for bringing their appliances and then they are responsible for it for the duration of their lease.  

It's a great sign that the tenant is *asking* you before letting his girlfriend move in so you should treat them as any other tenant application: - credit app- background check- income check etc. 

Would prohibiting price fixing by the NAR be a good thing or a bad thing for buyers and the real estate industry as a whole? 

Fourth, a perfectly good tenant with good references and track record can turn BAD - divorce, job loss, pregnancy, etc.  

HELOCs come with the advantage of being an open-ended line of credit that can be used as a revolving line of credit.

I’m not saying this is a bad thing but come on, this county takes in so much money from tourism there shouldn’t be a need to keep increasing our taxes and adding new fees.  

Quote from @Zachary Deal: may be worth just handling all bookings through Airbnb or VRBO to add some level of protectionIf booking outside these platforms, we use KeyCheck to run background and credit checks on tenants, but we may switch to Rent Redi as they collect the tenant's photo ID for you as well. 

Unless you have a rich uncle that wants to do you a favor, a partnership is a bad idea.

Is there a way for a small landlord - 20 units, to report late rents to the major credit bureaus?

As an escrow officer, a bad contract or a bad deal puts them in the seat of the agent, attorney, therepist, life coach and financial advisor for all parties.