James, I probably should have mentioned: my bar for what constitutes a "lot" of time and effort is set verrryyy low these days because I spent years refining my LTR operations to get them dialed in...At this point, my LTR operations are such that just adding an extra hour per week of work would be a noticeable increase to me... ...It wasn't always like this, though--I had to work too hard to get to a point where I don't have to work too hard  :)

Is it normal for a contractor to charge $150 fee to inspect a property in order to give a bid/line item estimate?  

Investment Info:
Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $140,000

Cash invested: $36,000

I have a large rehab going on (my largest ever per sf) and only allocated 6 weeks for the effort.  

Make sure the money you receive from rentals pays for all of your out-of-pocket costs, such as upkeep, insurance, taxes, and mortgage payments.Underestimating the Outlay: Add up all of the costs that come with owning and operating rental properties, such as capital expenditures, repairs, vacancies, and property management fees.

This would be HOA fees, mortgages, utilities, repairs AND your property management fee. 

I'm a licensed general contractor and we prepare bids for a fee if it's a service you need. 

In the markets I am in we are seeing more last minute (within 14 days) bookings.6.

This home is also a 2 minute drive to a hospital, is it a good idea to have traveling nurses rent out? 

You'll pay long term capital gain taxes so let's say you're net will be $300K. if you rent your 2nd home for $5K you will net (5 minus 3.4) $1.6K per month.