For example, in Florida, a landlord only has to give 3 days' notice to pay (excluding weekends and legal holidays) to the tenant, but the Zillow lease provides for more than 3 days.

The lease should dictate any free rent dates, so there should be no assuming involved.  2: If it is 100% occupied why are you paying any TI.  

How can I confirm that the tenant is paying on time and properly maintaining the property?

My main question is…i know i pay a deposit and we have an agreed upon term.

But with the array of services and fee structures current property management companies offer, it is entirely possible to pay an extremely low management fee and still be “fee-ed” to death as both an investor—and now even as a resident.Over the past 15 years, the amount of managers and fee structure variance in our industry has been incredible.

And if the right property is purchased you can recoup the money to pay back loan and any other start up costs to repeat the process.

Do you pay the heating/cooling or do the tenants pay those utilities?

PM cannot make the tenant pay their rent but there should be a process on their side of what they are doing when the rent is not paid.   

Just like you would do with any non-family contractor working for you:- get them to complete Form W9 for you, as you will need their SSNs- have them provide receipts for materials/supplies and keep those receipts- have a written labor agreement (how much and for what) - pay for materials separately from labor- make all payments electronically rather than cash so you can trace them- pay out of your business account, not personal- issue them 1099s next year if you paid them $600 or more for labor (for the whole year, not per job): https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1167632-expla... 

His long term tenant recently moved out and is about to rent it to his adult son, who will be paying him enough to cover the monthly expenses.