It's can also be good if doing new construction to negotiate the building loan to convert to a regular loan and have rate and term locked down once stabilized.

We change the locks with new tenants on a regular rental.  

All a "regular" agent is going to do is set up and MLS auto search, and then forget about you.

Is there a need for extra umbrella insurance (extra 1 million or extra 2 million ), over and above regular individual insurance of $1 million on each individual property I own.  

It almost looks like they poured a regular slab and raised it up. 

I am thinking HELOC may be the best way to go but when I went to my banks WF and BOFA they made it seem like the process was going to be in line with a regular mortgage which I am hoping to avoid as its such a pain.

I will highlight my 2 cents as a 15-year LL veteranDennis M from Erie makes a solid point - $500 deposit will not cover the extensive damage that a pet can do and the repair work that may need to take care of.So YES - you can get a little more money with non refundable deposits, or deposits, or higher rent.BUT actually keeping that money at the end of the day is hard to do.One thing no one has mentioned - that is that good prop mgt requires regular consistent checking in on the property - even better when you can drop in on a repair when they are not home or not prepared for your visit.

Although you may not be able to hire a handyman full-time, would it be worth considering hiring someone to work for you 1 day per week on a regular basis?

In order for rental property to be counted towards regular income you must have the property rented out for 2 years.My question is does the 2 year rule apply to each property separately?

We work with 7 different banks regularly because some terms are better than others with different properties.Good luck to you.