I keep getting asked, so I figured I would post this up so I could simply refer people to this post.

The rough guidelines/strategy that is working for me so far is below.

Assumptions - You are leveraging debt. You don't like wasting money. You want less hassle managing the property. You are using Padsplit.

#1) Contractors -  Notice I am putting this first above the deal/property. :)

You must find a a good contractor. They can make or break a deal. I have 2 of them I like and trust and looking for a 3rd. 

#2) The property

Determine a buy box that fits your return goals. If you are self managing find the BB that fits your personality. If you know you can't or don't want to deal with people then factor in a property manager for expenses. For me I am looking at turning larger homes into 8 bedrooms. No more no less. I also want 2.5 baths or better. That extra .5 bath does matter believe it or not. For me the numbers have to work and the harmony in the house has to work. This brings me to the 3rd step. 

#3) Capital planning/strategy 

For maximum efficiency you should have at least a rough idea of the phases of deploying capital. It will take time for construction, time for appliances, time for hiccups along the way etc. A strategy I try and use is to push closing dates or pull them in to the beginning of the month to give you that extra time up front before the 1st payment is due. Yes it is factored into the loan and you are paying for it so you might as well use it. My construction is done in 5-6 weeks. During this time I am working in parallel to order appliances, furniture and trying to time deliveries. This is to avoid things disappearing during construction, getting damaged and arriving just in time to be installed by contractors if need be. It is also because I am an out of state investor and need to fly in several times during the process. :) Then you launch the property and the next phase happens.

#4) Vetting potential members 

Padsplit present potential members. I feel it is up to the host to do a little bit more vetting. You will need time to get the right people in the house. This means your holding costs and your funds for vacancy have to be accounted for. You could do what most people I see do and let whoever Padsplit presents move in. That doesn't work for me. I choose to vet the potentials. Not only that, I remove the bottom 15% of those potentials. I schedule calls with them and make sure they know what they are getting into. Truth is most people don't read the agreement. If you skip this step your harmony in the house will be lower resulting in unhappy members. This will lead to higher turn over and your vacancy will be higher.

These are just my experiences and strategy so far.  I am sure things are left out and others will have their opinions, so am saying this now, "your mileage will vary!  :)