I don't get this whole mindset that tenants are terrible humans out to get the landlords and "we" have to separate ourselves from "them". 

The parent of one of the kids had the nerve to tell me he was going to take me to court over it because it was deducted from their deposit.

"I am too old", "I am too young", "I didn't do well in school, I can't learn anything", "my friends/SO/parents will say this is dumb, I shouldn't do it", or "I can't do it because it might not work out". 

I have decent handyman skills and have kept up properties for work as well as my parents few rentals.

Me personally I am of the mindset of doing a job right the first time. 

We got written confirmation that they understood that we 1) wouldn't be able to move in right away, 2) that we would rent it out in the meantime, and 3) that we would move in as soon as we can.We rented the house out and moved in with my parents so that they could help watch my son until he's ready for daycare.

I am 26 years of age, living with my parents in California's Central Valley.

I'm well aware of how careful one must be when renting to friends, or renting at all, and believe me, I have been planning with experienced adults about legal safeguards and the best way to handle the situation so there is zero grey area.Got a family friend who is a skilled realtor, just helped us get the house we're in now (I'm living with my parents while I'm saving money), and they sold our old house as well.

You meet these types, and they HATE tenants, they HATE the job, they're convinced that there's only one way to do it, Mommy and Daddy bought the duplex in 1951 and passed it on in the mid-eighties and they wish their parents had given them a stock portfolio instead.

This is looking more and more like a difference in culture and mindset than one based on anything else.I think that while it's true that granite will certainly allow any rental to rent more easily, the price differential in my area in countertop materials is about $300 for 32 square feet of the materials and tools you need to build laminate countertops by yourself or have a handyman build them at $50-$75/hr, and $1300 cheapest minimum possible for finished and installed counters, with that $1K typically climbing to almost $3K when all's said and done, because there's very little difference in the visual quality of the cheapest granite from laminate and people who buy granite for rentals are habitually looking for something that's "nice," that "pops."