You could add a clause in the lease stating the penalty for late payment.I like the idea of electronic locks.I would identify the items that need updating and plan accordingly; roof, furnace, etc.

I run a small private real estate investment club and we love to plan happy hours for visitors to Milwaukee.

I don't have 2 years of work history, but I do plan to work a W2 job until I start seeing progress in my rental estate journey.

I understand there is no “right” way to do it but my plan was to get hard money for the purchase of the property and use a heloc for the renovations.

This will allow you to acquire more rental units and also being able to use the vacated unit rents at 75% to help your debt to income ratio DTI.There is a FHA 100 mile rule if you do plan on using FHA on your 2nd house hack.

For example, a city could be currently zoned Agriculture, but if the city has this area planned/expected to be MF by 2030, your chance for rezoning is much more favorable. 

Work on a payment plan, but have it such that the entire cost of the damages are paid in full before the lease ends. 

My plan has been to use 1031 and build my equity until I own a farm w no morgage and it cash flows. 

Now I know a lot of people will say test prices which I plan on doing eventually but at the moment I am being aggressive on the remodeling / re investing side and since high season is only a few months a year in my area I dont want to miss out on revenue when I do not have to. 

It took us almost two and half months and went through a lot of ups and downs but in the end, it’s all working out.