One of the main advantages is that they DO keep them 'in house' so play by a whole different set of rules than those that 'resell' like a traditional 30 year fixed loan. 

First few months should be focused on educating yourself on your local market, setting up a marketing budget, creating business cards, website, marketing materials to hand out etc etc etc.....you should expect the first few months to be difficult until your able to get a constant lead flow. 

DH is a network engineer and I have worked in ministry/non profit settings as well as customer service settings. 

As far as the payment, you can set up a PO box at the local post office and have him/her send payment there, if you want to be discrete.

@Andrew PflegerThere's been multiple threads about goal setting, and I'm picking up you're in that mindset where you're thinking about units. 

I set aside a minimum of $5000 or 6 months PITI per property.

For protection, one of the way is , your uncle would need to get with attorney  and set up a trust.

She's lived there for over three months and hadn't set up her own utility accounts or paid her deposit.

If you don't mind me asking what do you mean by get set up on Collaboration?

Note: there are independent companies that encourage you to set up bi-weekly payment schedules with them on your thirty year mortgage.