I saw the red flags (more like yellow flags as they are by no means nightmare tenants) but was eager to get a lease signed and move on, and they were a bit pushy in wanting to quickly secure the lease.I'm thinking I'll go ahead and pay for the yard care, let them mail their rent checks from now on, and possibly ask my wife to handle any further personal contact that is needed.

FHA can fall through because of so much red tape.

I've been using crime stats to get a lay of the land, and it's amazing how many decent-looking places are in war zones. 

If they start to show signs of resentment, impatience, “zoning out”, etc., I think we need to back off!

I live in a town with restrictions on STR's, but I purchased a multi-family in R4 zoning, because I saw it coming.

Also, completely agree on doing renovations ahead of time because living in a construction zone is no fun especially if you have kids! 

How was the planning and zoning board ?

You can get your GC license but I believe that doing so will raise some red flags with the FHA.

Too many red flags for my liking.  

The zoning only allows for single family.