As you feel more comfortable down the road you can squeeze by without them but just remember if you have contracted work being done and an inspector drives by and sees it he can fine you for not filing.

Once all of the previous tenant's furniture and clothing is out and the landlord has taken adequate steps to thoroughly clean the unit and remove/replace damaged items, you should be fine.

It was fairly large (over 2000'), very stylish, with luxury features like hard wood floors, solar, granite counters, nice looking cabinets, etc.I was told the fact it was prefabbed saved ~30% on construction costs which if it was the quality of the prefabs from a couple of decades ago I would not have thought it was worth the savings but this was a very fine house. 

@dalton Kiley I am fine with student housing- almost prefer it for rental income. i have immediate relatives in Scottsdale, Phoenix, tempe and Chandler so it seems like a good location for my next property which is for buy and live. 

I called my lender on the advice of my attorney and they told me that it was fine for me to do that.  

Luckily, our house is fine.

If you think you can swing it without their expertise, then that's fine, but you will have a learning curve, so budget with some extra padding. 

If you want to state that as your opinion, fine. 

On a sunny day in June with all of the rents up to date it may seem like a futile expense, but at 4am 2 days before Christmas when the pipe breaks, it is the best money you could spend.Just look for a reputable and responsible company and you will change your tune. 

@Nick Vehr That seems fine - I'd consider pushing it to 20% if you can identify any concrete expenditures (water heater, furnace, roof, etc.) or if it's an older building, but otherwise that should be a fine estimate from what I can tell.