The activities of wife with respect to the rental properties included, among other things, cleaning common areas, collecting coins from washing machines, performing repairs at the properties, communicating with tenants, collecting and depositing rent, maintaining insurance policies, purchasing materials for the properties, as needed, paying bills and keeping books and records for tax accounting purposes.

I could see a buyer putting up a deposit, but could you get enough to move the needle?  

Think of all the things that could go wrong and see if the lease addresses them: unauthorized pets or tenants, early termination, security deposit, lease violations, late rent, eviction, lawn maintenance, parking, etc.5.

Below are some of the issues that I find when the books are done.1) People improperly record mortgage payments as an expense even though mortgage payments are composed of loan paydown, mortgage interest and escrow payments2) Closing statements are improperly recorded3) The balance sheet hardly ever shows security deposit transfers4) PM monthly statements are hardly ever recorded properly.I do the books for my own real estate company - feel free to take a look at how they look.

The $532 vs $500, take the extra $32 out of her deposit when she leaves. 

Banks make money by investing their liquid deposits as FDIC requires only 20% of all bank's deposits to be liquid.

You will need a lease and deposit at closing.

@Connor Lewis- so of course not a CPA so talk to them first etc but what I do is for each property create 2 accounts, a checking for rent payments and paying contractors, and a savings that I use to hold security deposit.

If your security deposit is equal to one months rent do you have to pay 5% interest? 

@Spencer J.lots of optionsI have used both Zelle and Zillow successfullyZillow can take several business days after payment to deposit (3-7 in my experience)Zelle same day