@Darren Nardo there has been lots of discussion about them on BP - you can see dozens of threads dedicated to them, as well as their responses to a lot of the posts, and different member's positive and negative experiences.

@Tony Castronovo thanks for the response and advice.

There’s no one on a master lease so their each only responsible for their rooms but no one responsible for the rest of the house.

Thanks for your response again, and I'll add you to my network on here.NM

You appear to be a property manager so I'm willing to bet you follow this same process.You appear to live in Pennsylvania so I will tell you what your state law says: Prepaid Rent: A landlord is only allowed to collect up to 2 month’s rent for escrow purposes, 1 month’s rent during any subsequent years. (68 P.S. §§250.511a.)A recent ruling in PA makes clear that it doesn't matter if you call it prepaid rent or last month's rent or security deposit.

Is it a personal move or are you cashing out your equity that you are looking to use for investment purposes? 

Never pay retail.Sometimes I'll purposely choose a 15yr loan.

I did this backwards, more for explanation purposes.  

He walked into it feeling like the original lease terms were not fair because he was responsible for upkeep and repairs.

The trick is... if you hire a PM MAKE CERTAIN they're good - honest, knowledgeable, responsive, driven....And make certain you 100% know how their fees work - some PMs will nickel and dime you beyond the set % they charge while others are less greedy.