Rent Late, Tenant's Roommate Trashed the Place

[David Dachtera]

This scenario came up in the Buy & Hold / Multi-Family / Short Term Rental study group this past Thursday. Wanted to solicit this group's opinions ...

A group member reports that for one of his SFR units, the rent had gone two months late and he was unable to contact the tenant.

Upon physical inspection, the front door was locked, the back door was not. The unit had been ransacked - clothing, etc. strewn about, beds and furniture overturned, ... certain other details are too gross to post. There was other vandalism including epithets being written using marker on appliances and fixtures.

If this were your unit, what would you do first?

(I'll post the owner's actions as the discussion progresses.)