Do you carry flood insurance on a long term rental regardless of where it is in Houston?

This is not an owned home therefore I don’t believe the rights of spouse, significant other carry over.Tell the husband to immediately call authorities and you as landlord when soon-to-be ex-wife tries to re-enter.

Carrying costs on improvement loans?

My first choice (as we recently did this ourselves) would be to ask the family to carry the note, interest only, for at least six months so you can get through the cleanout and renovation. 

Now that they have picked one I can see what you mean about the showing being just a small part of the transaction.Luckily these clients were my parents so there wasn't a risk of me losing them but I can see how that would be a big risk if that wasn't the case.

I don't owe much on this house and the carry is half of  than I know regular rent would be.. thinking regular rent in the 5k range.. 

I'm hoping this increases my risk tolerance and marketability to lenders.Any thoughts?  

I know buyer protection is important but if I’m able to secure a property well under market, it would be worth the risk of not having a realtor “protecting me” throughout the process.

He said he doubts that a metal junking place would want to take the risk that there's a full cartridge amid the thousands of empty ones because they can be explosive (you can also apparently lose a finger or your face  to frostbite while using it, if you're not careful). 

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.