I did some things right with that first rental (scheduling an open house instead of individual appointments, for example, and screening applicants) but there's definitely room for improvement.

When it comes to screening prospective tenants for income, do folks rely on a service for this or by calling on the phone?

If you want to be in the rental market for students, it is ok, but the competition will be higher because the size.

Many municipalities have restrictions on the number of occupants permitted per bedroom, sometimes varying depending on the size of the bedroom(s).

But I'm thinking pretty seriously about trying realty on for size before I drop $40k to do that. 

You could search for the type of properties you would want, price point, size, owner current debt, etc, etc, and the system will find properties that will likely make a deal.

Now take a similar size house in Rockville that is worth $500k.

Be careful of these gurus.For instance, roof replacement is not $5,000 - depending on the size of the house, it can be $4,000 or $7,000 or $20,000.

Many properties were damaged with softball-sized hail.

@Sabi Const I would want to know the size of the building before I estimated construction costs.