Learn how rentals work with this first investment, DIY as much of your own maintenance and property management as you feel comfortable with, get your feet properly wet and your hands property dirty. 

If you have not established the proper relationship with them or they don't have anything to authenticate or verify you yet, an email is not worth anything.

I agree with the others that it is the end result (i.e. does it look right and function properly) that matters most, not so much a piece of paper.  

How you want to proceed is up to you, personally I’d inform them that they did not follow the proper process by getting the animal before receiving your authorization, and therefore their ESA designation is not legitimate.

The mortgage is still in sellers name until some time in the future. 1)How do I or how am I properly protected if my Seller dies?

We don't believe we necessarily need to form an LLC for this initial investment but would love more in sight into the proper process of pulling this off.

Others will let you do costume.

Some outlets in the home are 3 pronged.It’s easy to check: use a cheap neon circuit tester to make sure each outlet is properly grounded.  

At the interview you tell them one of the requirements is for the tenant to properly maintain the rental and that you will do a walk through with them of the place they currently live in.

Once the NOI is properly calculated and most importantly, Verifiable then you can think about Cap rates/ price.4.