I also think it may actually be possible to raise rents a couple hundred dollars, even.

Finally, if you can't find what you're looking for, try the Bigger Pockets Fileplace: https://www.biggerpockets.com/files It contains hundreds of files such as ebooks, checklists and spreadsheets for real estate investors.

In these current conditions you may break even or you may cash flow a few hundred per month, it's truly all about the buy and hold. 

I field hundreds of inquiries every month and the vast majority of the renters have animals.

Even a year after i am still have flymaggedon issues where out of no where my house will have hundreds of flies.

In my opinion as a contractor I prefer to call the company and tell that the guy did a good job and tell about what he did more to increase the service and ask if you can pay he direct for the extra services.Normally I let my guys to do some extra stuffs and receive more hours for this, but the difference is they ask me first, maybe because they know that I let them do.The same happens with me, sometimes the companies that I provide services let me do extra jobs to the clients, out of the original scope, but one hundred percent of the time I let the company know and take the permission.Maybe you should ask the guy, if he is doing this without someone know maybe you will put he in one big problem to let the company know that he is doing extra stuffs, charging the company for the extra material and receiving all the money.

If you bought there seven years ago, you're seeing hundreds of thousands in appreciation by now.

I am working off of a Google sheet but it can get a bit crazy to manage when mailing a few hundred property owners.Any suggestions?

I would actually consult with a LOCAL landlord-tenant attorney and discuss the matter with them, and have that person write this lease for you and this unique circumstance (as opposed to you writing it) to make sure it's legal and you don't run into any unforeseen issues when you get to the 6 month mark and need to move into this property.This isn't something you should navigate on your own, and the few hundred dollars you'd spend on the front end with an attorney could save you many thousands down the road.  

I own rental property in Omaha, and in a sense, I'm treating a city of five hundred thousand like a town of twenty-thousand by focusing my investing on two segments of one zip code.My father-in-law lives in a town of five thousand, and his father, at one time, owned eight houses that were occupied by the same families for three decades.