Then because he is a licensed agent he was able to access the lock box and get inside. 

They make sure you go into it with the understanding that no amount of money is guaranteed but for me it’s been a great source of “extra money” and, like you said, a way for me to stay involved with my local real estate market and learn and have access to resources that may be helpful to me in the future.

If you start building additional units onto the property, you could come up with zoning issues or restrictions.

I have been getting advice to keep the dropped ceiling to maintain easy access to those.

You want the tenant to pay rent through the term of his lease (rightly so) and then you also want him to give you access to do something that benefits you.

Background: I`m trying to access some of the equity sitting in my rentals to re-invest, but my W2 income is fairly low compared to the rental and self-employment income, due to higher deductions the total taxable income and qualifying rental income is way less than my actual income.

I saw that the plus acct grants access to the calculators and landlord forms but when I go to either it tells me I've used my free 5 calculators and still wants me to pay for the landlord forms.Is that normal?

What I've told you here is a very simplified version of the rules and there are many other restrictions and requirements.  

States are making everything even more restrictive which I believe will end up continuing the economic divide.

I have a gas line for the dryer that seems reasonably accessible and is near where I would want this unit installed.