Then life catches up with the mechanics, waitresses, cashiers, etc who make up my neighborhood and they default before the year is out. ($700 rent...$100 gas...$100 electric...$75 water...mow the lawn.

:P And with potential for better if I can negotiate lower (or worse if the repairs cost grows), but as always it needs a more thorough analysis Shane, The 2% rule and 50% rules are simply meant to be used as a filtering mechanism, to determine whether a property is worthy of the additional more thorough analysis.

Inspect ALL the units and get a professional property inspector to give you an assessment of the mechanical and structural components to determine your renovation costs accurately2.

You may wish to confirm that the new 401k provider has experience with the particular investments in which you intend to invest your retirement funds as you very likely will have questions in terms of the mechanics (e.g. how do you invest in real estate, etc.).3.

@Alex Wang If you ADU building (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) permit is closed you'll need new permits, but that isn't a big deal.

If your bill is outrageous, there could be a mechanical culprit, such as leak, running toilets, etc.

But they do not have the mechanism to notify landlord via email.

More importantly, if we end up in a messy situation, what are our fallback mechanisms to cover the losses (if any). 

Also lack of detail in some respects of the mechanics of setting up the technology.

There could also be delinquent water bills, mechanic liens and code violations still due on a property.