I've watched all of the Beginners Introduction to Real Estate Investing and have been reading the forums some. 

Here are some recommendations for you:Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area:http://www.biggerpockets.com/meetSet up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you:http://www.biggerpockets.com/alertsRead Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investingCheck out BP Podcasts:http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/category/podcast/If you wish to tag someone in the conversation on the forum, type @ followed by their name and then select the name of that person which should appear below the comments box.

Per the lease if it stipulates the landlord has a right to enter the premises with proper notice to perform an inspection of the unit then it's valid.A tenant with a lease cannot keep denying a landlord entry into the property for inspection.

What has been your experience with having a tenant perform yard work/snow shoveling and minor repairs?     

Of course, you need to read The Ultimate Beginners Guide to REI here on BPIf you haven’t already, please read/listen to these books ASAP!

I have been jammed by present-landlord lies - likely to expedite them dumping their poorly performing tenant onto my plate.  

Firstly, I want to say how grateful I am for all those that responded to my last post - it is a testament to the amazing community BiggerPockets has built in the outpouring of insightful and in-depth replies that I received to a number of questions that I posed in my "I'm new, I don't know what to do - Gurus and Gotchas" post from last week.This week I continued to focus on a number of beginner hurdles that I am sure many people face when they are diving into real estate investing for the first time.

I would ask them for plans, who they intend to have perform the work.

You can start with the course on the Ultimate Beginner's Guide.

It is never advisable to give ANY lender upfront fees of any kind except for the payment of appraisal work performed by 3rd parties that are required, if any.