In contrast, large rips or indelible stains justify a deduction from the tenant's security deposit for repairing the carpet or drapes, or replacing them if that is reasonably necessary.One common method of calculating the deduction for replacement prorates the total cost of replacement so that the tenant pays only for the remaining useful life of the item that the tenant has damaged or destroyed.

And your results are common unfortunately.And of course the nice guys who sell them to you will buy them back at 50 cents on the dollar that's common or worse.If you cannot personally manage them and get them running then you need to cut and run is my advice..

A few more but I feel these atributes are not common in the REI businesses described here or by REIAs or gurus.

While it does exist in Canada, it is nowhere near as common as in the U.S.A.

Is this a common problem you investors are running into out there?  

Examples are whether payments are going to be made monthly or quarterly, and what the interest rate will be within the commonly accepted "reasonable" range.While your mother would not be a disqualified person to your wife's 401k (at least not based on that family relationship), it is still important to make sure that plan investments are still in the best interest of the plan and not the plan participant or others with whom you have relationships.

In the rental scenario, I will have to pay income tax on the rent, but the mortgage interest deduction is the same right?  

There is no homestead exception applied...but I will also lose it in my current house if I rent it, so ...I'd like to go with the worse case scenario.

But just keep at it and you'll eventually find good people with a common goal to work with.

It is very common for homeowners in a neighborhood to not own the minerals beneath their land as developers usually do not transfer the minerals over in the deeds.