I'll leave the WH recommendations to the plumbers on the forum BUT, in a rental property I'd be leery of letting the tenant install a WH. In many locales installing WHers requires a permit and a licensed plumber.

I realize that lots of WHers are installed by DIYers but since you legitimately rent that property for profit I would do everything legally and cross ALL the Ts and dot ALL the Is.

Price is always an issue but if you can afford a rental property then you can afford a legal installation. Penny wise can be thousands of dollars foolish cause a tenant may love the landlord one day and sue the landlord the next.

A 50 gallon unit should be the minimum size water heater you should be looking at for this size house and family.

And presuming the tenants pay the uitlities, the only other items you really need to consider is the length of warranty and price. Energy efficiency, therefore, should be of no concern.

Personally speaking, for one of my rentals, I'd be looking at the cheapest 50 gallon heater I could buy with the longest warranty and nothing else.

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Ditto not allowing the tenants to install the unit.

Have a pro do it.

It's all tax-deductible to you anyhow.