Best policy is to always operate under normal landlord tennat lease agreements....no advance payment bribes.

@Leon Li I think if you’re only getting those quality tenants applying then if you find one that is worth accepting, take 2 months security deposit.

Securities regulation compliance, transparency, investor vetting, professional competition from well financed competitors to name a few.  

From what you said you took measures to make sure railings were secure and tread strips were installed. 

Do you operate seasonally?

Always keep in mind you are operating a business in which your tenants expect these issues to arise.

If people factored in the costs to operate a property as part of the purchase equation, then perhaps they would be able to compare apples to apples, but that's just not how we value property these days.

The local office is no help so we contacted the Vice President of operations COO of this very large company.

My husband and I own and operate a property management company in Alabama.

Cap Rate is based on yearly Net Operating Income (NOI).