Return of Security Deposit

[Chris Lombardi]

To get to the point, my question is how nit picky do you get when determining how much of the security deposit to return?

So I purchased my first 2 family home back in November and gave the first floor tenant until January 1 to move out so I could move in.  He was very accommodating and all went well.  I've picked up the keys from him and told him to give me a week to inspect the place and assess how much of the security deposit will be returned.

I haven't gone through everything with a fine comb, but it generally looks good.  There's some chips in the paint on the walls and some of the blinds are broken, but nothing major so far.  How do you decipher between:

• Normal wear and tear
• Small things that you ignore
• Items worthy of deducting from security deposit