My goal is to have efficient, teachable methods, rent collection, listings, etc, so that when I am ready to hire an employee/employees, they can be trained to run necessary aspects of my business without skipping a beat.Any and all advice is welcome, and I thank you in advance!

@Talha Makki I use census.gov to collect and analyze a lot of info.  

It may also be a good idea to see what the prevailing practice in the community is (this post is a good start).One thing to remember is that pet deposits can cover a wide variety of items, both inside and outside of the unit.

Let's say I choose an applicant by mid-month - should I give them a couple of days to sign an "Agreement to Execute Rental Agreement" and collect a holding deposit (same amount as the security deposit let's say), and then sign the lease later in the month and collect first month's rent?

There is also a daycare on the NW corner so at least you'd have some activity nearby most of the day.We use a property manager, but I still stick to neighborhoods I would be comfortable going to on foot after 10 p.m. if I had to collect rent/fix something etc.

I didn’t add a cleaning expense, because it is typical practice to pass those expenses on to the guest.

Properties bought back then for $7-8K now could be sold 5-7 times more.....Nobody sells though - they still collect the rent 850-995/mo

I thought of rent-to-own is an attractive option as opposed to seller-financing because of the monthly rent being tax advantaged compared to collecting interest with seller-financing, and also thought that with rent to own you avoid the risk of foreclosure because tenants do not own the property.

I decided to go through the Rent Recovery Service website to collect the amount the tenant owes. 

Once we had our first property is when the practical learning really began (and continues...the learning never ends).