Then offer "if you can not manage this much of an increase, let us know what you can afford: _________" and let them fill in the blank.  

This is going to be a D neighborhood, in my opinion.From our experience, you can rent a house in these neighborhoods fairly quickly (average 3/4 weeks) as long as you don't have a product or price issue.Product - your house needs to be in good conditionPrice - you should be asking for market rentIf either one of these is off, you will either have little to no showings (price issue), or you will have people look but not fill out applications (product issue).Best of luck to you!

Yes I know it’s only $25 or $50 bucks, who cares as long as I don’t have another vacancy and have to another update/rehab/fill in the blank… It’s much cheaper to reward the good behavior and try to prolong the tenancy as long as possible I’m quite aware that this paltry amount isn’t the glue that keeps them from moving, but it helps.

Find what THEY want to buyer, then go into the marketplace and "fill their orders".If your buyers are open to foreclosures and probates, THEN research those topics.My $0.02 ...

OK, I'm going to stir the pot on this one a bit, here goes ... personally, I think escalator clauses are chicken s$%t ... if I were selling a property (and I have been in this situation), I would NOT accept escalator clauses, but rather just instruct the buyer to send in their highest and best offer.

Too much in one pot?

So I've finally gotten off the pot so to speak and after years of reading on real estate but investing in the stock market, I've acquired my first rental. 

There are currently 20 spots filled at $150/month. (20 spots @ $150/month X 12 months = $36,000 income)Assuming 30% down at this price: $43,500Mortgage of $101,500 @ 4% for 20 years = $615/month or $7,380/year.Taxes/Insurance (assuming 0.5% tax) ~$2,000 year.$36,000 income - $9,380 tax/mortgage/insurance = $26,620.~61% cash on cash return.I know this does not include fees for collecting rent/marketing the property, but what am I missing here?

I picked up my CPA and an investing partner from these random meetups filled with mostly newbies.

A lot of landlords will fill a multi family unit property with less then desirable tenants to deceive potential buyers by showing low vacancy and great cash flow.Maintenance; This is the tricky one.