I worked mainframe computing systems for 20 years and I know they showed an intense lack of business acumen if they paid that kind of money for something they could have done for a few thousand bucks.

I would highly suggest finding a local Investor that for a few hundred bucks will let you check out a project, scope of work, and ask questions.

I bid on this house in Portland opening bid was like 250k ( back in 04) but I did not know it had senior deferral tax on it of 95k and no one else was bidding .. could not figure it out.. until I let my check go and it was done someone asked if I knew there was a deferral and up until that point I had never seen that .. but I could not figure out why someone was letting me buy it for buck over and it was worth 400k...

Do not rule out small apartment complexes because they are figured for value differently and you get more bang for the buck with what you what that spendng improvement and adding value.

The property doesn't "negatively cash flow" your just paying yourself back with the $700 bucks you need to kick out every month.  

I'll ante up a few bucks to ask my lawyer some pointed questions anyway, just to stay covered.

Open floor plan, end unit, 1 car garage with great private mature wooded backyard.

You want the lawyer to do it for you at least for the first time and if you are comfortable with what needs to be done you can do it yourself for the next times.The lease and consultation will cost you a few hundred bucks, but will be worth it if you don't consider it to be work he is doing for you, but a lesson the lawyer will explain to you how things are done.Two other points.. you never want to be in a situation where you are telling the tenant they broke the lease and you are going to evict them, and then your lawyer (or the judge) states your lease was illegal.The PAR lease is a basic minimum lease, if does not have the protections for the landlord that a lease your lawyer would create, if has options to add clauses but you need to know what to add.At the end of the day, the legal correctness of a lease is used about 5% of the time. 95% of the time you have good tenants who rent, pay and leave without issue, however that remaining 5% could cost you an arm and a leg if you do not have the proper lease and you (as a landlord) support and enforce that lease legally.

I would suggest not to make false claims on a mortgage application to save a few bucks on payments it is a federal crime

You can either have the tenant pay the $3 fee or pay it yourself... fyi just raise your rent $3 bucks on the next lease and you're covered.