There are lockable thermostats for commercial use, but I can't see that working in a rental.I think the main issue will always be that any thermostat that you can set a minimum temperature in will always be susceptible to this fail safe failing, due to the possibility the tenant could change it on purpose or on accident.I'd hope in a 4 plex as long as there is no building defect to the thermal envelope that it would be difficult for one units pipes to freeze as long as the other units were occupied, seeing as they share some common walls/ceilings.

The issue I'm having is that the house doesn't cashflow unless I pay down the PMI and refinance.

The issue with purchasing the property and then transferring the property into an LLC are the added transactional costs.

All that to say, if you have sufficient evidence that the market is showing the value of the home is different than what the appraisal comes to, then appraisals should not be an issue.

In other relatively bigger areas like Dallas, Houston, Raleigh, Nashville, etc, it's never that bad. ****, even Austin wasn't that bad.

I always hired contractors, and did material runs for them several times a week after work and cleaned up jobs on the weekend, which was also time I spent at the properties, discovering issues, thinking about the rehabs and what needed to be done next.

Are there any issues with this strategy? 

Yeah..ok...And all teachers should have kids first...All doctors should have lots of medical issues before they can practice....All dentists should have lot of dental issues before they can practice...Every waiter should owner a restaurant before they can wait tables....Every car salesman should have bought multiple new cars before selling any....I get your point..... it would be great if every realtor had to have real life home ownership under their belt, so they have that BTDT experience..... but not gonna happen

Reminds me of a relative with nothing, that gives you advice...

There are facebook groups where other Ownwerrez users help each other with issues.