I just didn't want to have to, but looking like he may not give me much of a choice.

And about 30 or 45 minutes worth of other bullet points, often the result would be that you would then go back to the taxpayers with (this is often how the choice would play out) "hey here's option A or option B, A has you paying less in taxes this year, but you mentioned that you might want to buy a home this year, option B might be more advantageous for that.

The other choice is to serve them for not paying rent as @Mark H. had mentioned.  

I think once you do that you will see just buying outright will be a heck of a lot simpler, easier, better choices in homes, etc. for you. 

My suggestion is to interview at least 5, though 10 is better, different brokerages to find out what everyone offers and doesn't offer, and then make your choice.

If you're concerned about late or missed payments in your market consider incentives to make sure payment is received on time, a minor discount, 12 months on time payments = a gift card at Christmas, etc, etc.Also check your local laws when it comes to fines and specific 'grace periods', you may not have much of a choice in the matter.Good luck!

You can have a good experience with OOS investing if you are smart and methodical about it, and know what the market will bare in terms of rental rates.

You never mentioned what I call "percentage expenses", which include Maintenance (10%), Capital Expenses (CapEx) (10%), Vacancies (your choice for your market - anywhere from 2% to 10%), and Property Management (again, based on the market - say 8%).Broken down:Maintenance - expect an average of 10% of your income to be spent on general maintenance.

In my opinion setting up a Google Voice number is smart so that you never have to worry about them harassing you if things just don't settle well.

With 60 days notice, you may offer to transport them to another dwelling of their choice.