I'd guess that initially you were a little surprised/afraid that you might lose most or all of your deposit because of damage caused by you and your cat.You said a couple of time that you will use your understanding of being a tenant to help you be a better landlord. 

You should be able to get a pretty good lender credit to cover most or all of your closing costs, even at a competitive rate,  so you shouldn't have to use too much cash for that.  

One reason is that it reverts to state statutes, and it's easier, if worse comes to worse, to evict on an oral, month-to-month.

If you sold for a rental property for $250,000 and bought a duplex for $250,000, then you would not qualify because 50% of the purchase or $125,000 would not replace your requirement values and you would recognize some or all of your taxes.

Don't force the first deal...or all you will get is your first property

Once it's sat for a while, or all the offers are in the same ballpark, sellers usually come around.

Also, even though you might tell a tenant that the current tenant will be vacated by a certain date they look at that as something else they have to deal with.The reason people aren't showing up to the open houses is because they do not meet one or all of your minimum quals and their is really no incentive for them to tell you this, they can just not show up and never talk to you again. 

Water intrusion in crawl spaces and basements is very common but fortunately, in most cases easily remedied. 99% of water intrusion is due to inadequate drainage to to the condition of or lack of gutters and downspout and improper soil grading around the foundation.

Question: Is AirBnb a noun, verb, adjective, or all three?   

(Most people just use credit cards now and don't carry around too much cash or a check book)But in a software program, any time you make a deposit into a checking account or write a check, it will be inserted into a Check Registry that keeps tabs on deposit and withdrawals  that you make from a certain bank or all banks that you use in QuickBooks.