We pay the leasing agent a one-time leasing fee once the tenant is placed, and it eliminates the ~10% monthly property management fee.

This will enable to you bypass the custodian when acquiring investments and for all transactions thereafter, will eliminate the transactions and asset-based fees and provide you with checkbook control over your IRA. 

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

This practice cuts down & or eliminates most, if not all confusion & or miscommunications that can occur between the tenants & landlord in regards to the exact condition the tenant can expect the property to be in on move in day.

This will eliminate most of the lower end properties and neighborhoods.I hope that helps.

I recommend signing leases in person though, as tenants are more likely to ask you questions that will help eliminate issues in the future.

Certainly, combining the tool of using sec 121 to sell your primary residence and 1031 exchanges to sell and increase your rental portfolio will eliminate and completely defer all tax on profit from sales.  

I'd suggest that there is "space" to drop the rents to get better quality candidates and eliminate turn-overs.

Eliminating tax enhances your roi quite a bit and you really haven't stretched yourself too much philosophically or financially to do so.  3. 

The tenant paying the mortgage reduces your negative cash flow, but doesn't eliminate it.Any equity built up is very small in the first 5 years, and has no usable value unless you sell the house or refi to tap into it.