@Grant Anderson No bank will give a regular conforming loan to an LLC.

If your regular depreciation is already more than covering your cash flow, you will likely see little to zero benefit.

A few examples that have been surfacing regularly across many states- Crazy late night parties from STR tenants... the landlord is liable and can be fined or worse, depending on the location and severity.

I'm glad to see people exercising caution and reserves/ backup plans.

Do the option to buy until you hit the year mark, then ask the buyer to exercise the option.Monthly lease payments (if rented to meet the year mark) cannot go toward the loan payments. 

A lot of people like to exercise at home either early in the morning or late at night.

If you don't like the contractors your getting than I would suggest becoming more active on Biggerpockets and connecting with @Darren Sager and others doing regular BP Meetups in your area.

As the trustee of your 401k plan you have a fiduciary responsibility to make decisions that would protect the 401k and it seems that you are not exercising this responsibility...

He also asks me to send the check in mail and then he will send the lien waiver in mail after the amount is cleared in the bank. what is the regular practice to get lien waivers from the GC's? 

He had a regular full-time day job with medical insurance.