Tenant evicted with 5+ months rents due

[Bhavik A.]

Hi Experts,

Need some guidance. Property is in Mckinney (Dallas) Texas. Tenant is evicted after following all the legal procedures by my property manager. They haven't paid 5+ months of rent and on top of it they trashed the house. Few questions.

1. 1. Can I (landlord) legally contact the tenant and negotiate? I am sensing that my property manager is not doing the excellent there.  Are there any pit-holes that i should be aware of?
2. 2. My property manager is going to send it to collections agency but she is convinced that they will NOT make any payments. Is there anything that I / landlord can do to get paid? Do we have any other routes? 
3. 3. Given point #2, should i offer discount on the balance and get paid reasonable amount? Share your experience
4. 4. Once filled to collection agency, do i get any update on the case? Or only my property manager will get the updates? What happens if i decide to change the property manager in near future and collection case is still ongoing? 

This is my first eviction experience so appreciate your insights / tips / suggestions here.

Thanks//