This should all be included in closing documents..Owner give you copy of lease, addendums,  the amount of security deposit plus interest is paid to you within the closing fee's.. any rent is prorated to day of closing and is factored in closing fee's.  

3) With me being a realtor, I can list the property at a discount rate (still have to pay the brokerage a little fee) and we save about 12K in listing fees (still have to pay the buyers agent, unless I sell it personally). 4) Should we try to get the hard money, or should we be looking for a cash investor that might see a benefit of not having to pay capital gains taxes or listing agent fees, and partner with us?

I also said, that I probably will save him 2 or 3 times that fee in my negotiations with the seller.

(insurance, property tax, HOA fees, maintenance expense, % vacancy, capital reserve, management fee (if any)?

My wife and I have very stable, well paying jobs in the Washington DC metro area, but we've made the decision we want to take charge of our financial futures instead of continually trading time for dollars like our families do. 

It may be a good thing to charge back to the tenants or to split the utilities, but that should not affect your analysis

Could always have it removed, then charge them fees to do it in the meantime...of course getting those hauling fees reimbursed is another story entirely

Add a cast iron or aluminum fence around the pool for safety and charge rent high enough to include a pool company to maintain...maybe, I do not have a rental with a pool (above is our pool) but I could see it being quite a plus if safe and easy for tenants.

The only thing I would take out is having people list their bank account number, I don't think you will have an applicant willing to give that info to you anyway.One other thing to consider, are you charging an application fee?

Where would you recommend parking the down payment and fees for it?