Meaning, if I am earning $10,000 annual on gross collected rents, a buyer should pay 1-1.25 times for that income stream?

It's your property and investment.Of course you don't want the maintenance person taking your $300 set of a steak knifes.  

Did the pest control person seem to indicate an infestation? 

Hi Babu,A simple rental property balance sheet will have the following accounts:Assets: Cash, tax and insurance escrow, fixed assets and depreciationLiabilities: Credit cards, security deposits, and loansEquity: Opening balance equity, owner's contributions/distributions, retained earnings and net incomeThere could be a number of reasons that your balance sheet does not balance.

But we could not personally afford the mortgage on this place without a renter.

- How many personal use days (sometimes including family or other discounted renters) do you plan to have? 

If you can't qualify as a real estate professional, your ability to use PALs to offset non-passive income (like your W2 earnings) might be limited.

I’m personally happier entering into longer leases, even though they purport to offer premiums over market rents.

And you likely haven't faced life on a downturn, it all comes down at once and it's kind of correlated professionally and personally. 

I only WISH I had known about this ability to make money earn in two places at once while ALSO getting a death benefit and future tax benefits.