But from what I've heard it seems that ground rent is largely limited to Maryland at this point and in particular Baltimore City (yay, another hoop for us to jump through).

And LionDesk is a VERY powerful and reasonably priced one.

I am an agent and have limited experience in Property Management.Some of her requests include the following (Tenant and LL verbally agreed already):Tenant will do all the cleaning and cover the costs before move-inTenant may make home improvements upon LL final approval and city permits3 Month Security DepositI did some digging on BiggerPockets. 

Obviously like you stated, taxes and VA limits will be different for different states and countieswithin those states so looking at what you can afford to live within your means in case of vacancies is a big factor. 

Doing so limits a little bit of risk with dealing with market cycles of students and opens up the property for more potential renters.      

The reason I think you are okay putting extra money in your Roth is because I'm a big proponent of hiding money from yourself; perhaps you can set up a savings account separate from your current one that you chose to have a direct deposit to from your current paychecks (only do this if you have the will power not to dip into it).

(a) “Common Area Operating Expenses” are defined, for purposes of this Lease, as all costs incurred by Lessor relating to the ownership and operation of the Project, including, but not limited to, the following:(i) The operation, repair and maintenance, in neat, clean, good order and condition of the following:(aa) The Common Areas and Common Area improvements, including parking areas, loading and unloading areas, trash areas, roadways, parkways, walkways, driveways, landscaped areas, bumpers, irrigation systems, Common Area lighting facilities, fences and gates, elevators, roofs, and roof drainage systems.

PM me if interested.1) Impose rental occupancy limits: Notify if unit is sub-leased, has more occupants than on the lease, running a business or having regular parties in quiet hours.2) Detect any loitering and prowling.

One of the ideas that I'm evaluating is to acquire a small piece of property within the city limits near a train station of local towns such as Farmers Branch, Carrollton, Lewisville, Plano, Euless etc,.

Your tenants will have power over their own heat.