You do have to occupy within 60 days and for 1 year, unless circumstances beyond your control prohibit you from doing that.

But I also have a lot more freedom and control my own income.Good luck!! 

Blair Russell Thank you for your precise advice, I really wanted to jump right in and learn through my failures but now realizing that could turn out badly for me.

We give our tenants a few options:1) They can (snail) mail a check to our PO box2) They can direct deposit to our clearing account3) They can go to the bank branch and make a deposit into our clearing account4) They can pay via an online service (like Cozy or TenantCloud or the others mentioned)I think the post dated check idea but feel some tenants would hesitate since they would not have the control of paying on say the 3rd vs the 5th which is the grace period we provide.

We look at cash on cash and ROI but not IRR or anything that has to do with appreciation that is market driven and not forced because we don't control the market but we do control the asset.

Well, the way I see it...if I want to put a control mechanism on my account, why should I not be able to?  

You need to include expenses for lawn maintenance, trash pickup (unless included in property taxes), and pest control.

The hourly rate and added line items are getting out of control for the maintenance costs in my San Mateo properties.

Thank goodness the tenant is pretty understanding that this was something somewhat out of my control.

I'm fairly competent at credit management, but here's what I've learned and offer to pass along:  Monitor your credit all the time and don't let the credit agencies or any business control your credit.