I used to go to the meet-ups in Madison, but the drive got to be too much for me with my work schedule.

Hi Ting,I've had Pest Control companies that layed down a DMZ of sorts outside the buildings.Fire ants, ants, and a lot of other crawlies seem to stay away from the DMZ area--keeping them out of the house.I've had them do it in the pouring rain and on nice days.Maybe they do something like that in your area.If it's a problem, you can scheduled ongoing service for it--where they will come out and re-apply.Or you could pass the info on to the renter--it's less costly then her hiring an attorney (unless she is govt subsidized and gets free attorneys via legal aid).They also do a building inspection inside and out--looking for entry points that need to be "Repaired", but ants get in through the smallest cracks.If you have a slab foundation, they may be under the slab and coming through a crack in it--exterminators can handle that.One or two phone calls will get you a quick price, and being there when it happens to take notes on where the tech says to repair to prevent other insects coming in might be a smart move.I've seen long lines of ants outdoors coming up a metal handrail to an apartment and going into a tiny space at the corner of a window and into the apartment. 

It is to prevent fires.Typically it's not something the resident does, but is done when some other scheduled maintenance is needed, such as replacing the rubber hoses on the back of the washing machine with new ones--if own the washing machine.Good Luck!

The main learning lesson for me was to think through my schedule and how realistic it was to turn over a room.

Partnered with a college buddy, How did you add value to the deal?

We did all the work ourself on nights and weekends thinking we were “Saving money” (def were not plus I found out that I was pregnant with Aria) it cost us a lot of time and carrying costs but we consider it as we got paid to go to real estate college.

Just know it's 75% of the gross rents OR a 1 or 2 year average of your Schedule E (rental income in your tax returns) after accounting for 75% of gross rents.

I was scheduled to close on a cash out refinance for an investment property in NJ last Thursday.

Are you just paying of the interest portion of have you set up your own amortization schedule? 

@Eric MillerThe IRS does not care about the loan product that you have.The IRS just wants you to properly classify mortgage interest as a Personal Residence mortgage interest (Schedule A) vs Rental Property Mortgage interest(Schedule E).Best of luck!