-Steven the Tax GuyYour guide to IRS laws, rules and regulations.

That said, the price point for your particular home in your particular area may or may not justify either choice and my opinion doesn't matter when taking that into consderation. 

I wonder how many of his rules can be translated to real estate investing?

David , please excuse my rambling, you asked if your thinking is sound.Check out the 2% 50% rule or guide line .

They're in the mode of going out and justifying a contract and protecting the lender.

I look for rents of 1.5% of purchase price at a minimum, and if I'm going that low the utilities need to be tenant paid.The reason for that is given a 25% down payment and current conventional rates, I can achieve a 15% CoC return (using the 50% rule).

Not sure the rule on posting articles, but I've been following this concept very closely since the RFI announcement in August 2011.

Your rules are sort of OK - the reason I say "sort of" is that I would phrase everything as "Tenant agrees to _______" and then fill in the blank with the concept you are trying to express.

So, I wonder how do you justify it to the seller when you tell them they have to sacrifice from their asking price for a choice you make to hire out management?

There are no hard rules of mentoring relationships, especially with family.