Also, turning over a house is much more expensive than turning over an apartment.I would suggest buying something in the Seattle area.  

My loan officer suggested creating an LLC and buying houses under the company name and using me as the personal guarantor, thus allowing me to own/control four more.

Here is a suggestion for real estate investors flippers using QuickBooks-You should have four main stages in QuickBooks as Class:- Leads- Rehab- Sold- Overhead expensesKeep track of each property expenses immaterial you buy or do not close the lead.As each property progresses in the stage, change the subclass of the property.

Many lawn care people do snow as well in the winter, so I would suggest keeping an eye out for them.

Is there a way for us to suggest that the tenant can break their lease without us getting stuck covering the payments?

I might suggest offering a lower rent than what they pay month to month as an enticement for going long term (and that could mean either offering a lower rent than what they pay now, or raise the rent if they want to pay month to month).All those little decisions you'll just have to feel out what works with your place and tenants.

I would suggest contacting a local attorney and getting at minimum the state bar form rather than using whatever it is you found online.  

Right now competition is so high that we are finding the need to stand out in other ways so we are looking into that.

I would highest suggest u and ur ex wife go to a lawyer and get a document agreeing to all the terms.

I would suggest driving for dollars in the area as well as Popping into The Barn and asking the real estate developers who own that building and office on the lower level if they know of anything.