Probably their duty to hold the last months rent as it “has not been earned” at this point.....your duplex could burn down, flood, etc and not be habitable.Good luck having no tenants, let alone college kids, not smoke pot.

@Robert Burns I'll let them prepay or buy down (however you want to look at it) the rent.

Well, your gc’s liability isn’t going to cover vandalism,theft, your liability or vandals burning your house down......

I’m trying to find more deals north of town because I’m so burned out with getting to Austin.

And they tend to burn out after a year or two and have to take a break for a year or two before trying it again.It's not as easy as people make it look.

A dwelling with lots of drywall holes will burn markedly faster than one without.  

@David Burns will do!

What if the house burns down six months into the lease.

You rarely hear from those who crashed and burned from REI.

I have also had a hell of a time getting some major work done on my Oakland house, so I am pretty wary of contractors and getting burned by shoddy work, and lengthy timelines and delays (I'd like to think I learned a thing or two, though!).