If you're selling a lot of houses or you want to work with the occasional client it's helpful.  

You have an occasional scratched up door, but they are very happy to pay for that.Rent is on autopay, that eliminates most of the late payments.

If college students are going to cram 5 full-sized adults in a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom home you'll get a lot of wear and tear, parking is a pain, noise complaints in a family neighborhood, the occasional kegger, etc.

We expect that even well-qualified (3xrent with good work history) tenant renting a $500 per month apartment will have occasionally have problems when faced with a large, out of the ordinary expense.

After 14 years of landlording I have learned (the hard way) the importance following up on the property occasionally to review how well the property is being treated.

If they balk, then they probably know it won't be approved.Inquiries for rentals don't normally send up lots of red flags.I'd occasionally get an applicant who wanted me to use a report they'd run themselves.  

I really enjoy renting to students, I have never had any problems with them (besides the occasional boyfriend moving in and ticking off the other girls) but I think I will be taking more regular people for the next couple of years until we see what happens long term with Higher Ed. 

If you didn't mind the resident faces changing occasionally, you could probably keep it rented year-round furnished.I managed a property in Santa Clara, and learned that Indian techies would lease a place as roommates, then they would rent more floor space to more of their Indian techie co-workers and friends (normally, all single males). 

I really only see 3 options: 1. have the upper unit take the exterior route, 2. install stacked laundry in the upper unit, or 3. work something out with the bottom unit to allow occasional access for the upper tenants to get to the basement for laundry.

Real estate agents are usually good for people who only buy one home or the occasional property, but if you're doing this full time you already know the marketing, opening escrow, title reports, closing, etc, etc.