Are insurance policies standard in what they cover? 

If they end fractional reserve banking and standardize lending, we would see much more stability in prices.

Whereas 70-75% used to be the gold standard back in 2011, now most investors are happy to see anything below 80%.

Seems like a lot of them are full of hillbillies on heroin.Read the Standard Speaker, and the Scranton/Wilkes Barre papers to get a feel for where the busts are going on.

In your experience, do the 6 month minimum vary per state or is that pretty standard?

I'll add that the area is experiencing an explosion (by Jax standards) of residential flooding the market, which concerns me with rentals, but as long as we continue to see steady growth then in the long run it should be ok if you invest in the right neighborhoods. 

Typically if you stick with the big guys, American Standard/Trane,   Carrier/Bryant,  Rheem/Ruud,  Lennox or Goodman/Daikin/Amana you'll be ok.  

"The credit check is an industry standard decision rating based on the applicant's credit score and public records.

Personally, we don't advertise/show a unit until it is vacant, clean, and ready to move into, so that prospective tenants can see what they're getting and know what our cleanliness standards are. 

The longer terms will cause you to rank more favorably in searches that fall outside of the standard search of "single family homes".