How do people live like this?

[Riley Holt]

So I have been actively looking for good investment properties for the last two months. I went and looked at two yesterday that were still tenant occupied. The standards of living are so crummy at the houses that I wonder how people live like this. I want to get a rental and make it nice. Decent floor. Functioning toilet and shower. No significant holes in the walls. The people living in the current houses that I viewed seemed quite content to live in these "crap holes". It makes me wonder if my standards are too high. I'm not trying to make these places flips or super fancy but I do feel like if I have a decent property that I could find decent tenants. My friend who has a ton of rentals keeps telling me "Even if this house is not a rental, the tenants will turn it into a rental fast." Is it just poor tenant management and selection or is this something y'all see across the board?