Nobody will ever care as much as the owner does.To expect the property manager to in my opinion is unrealistic.If they are making checks off of sales or other residuals then yes the pot has been sweetened.If you have a newer or updated property that has an ideal tenant and the rent is high and in a nice area then yes management is not that hard.Many investors however want to buy these little dumper houses in suspect areas that cash flow well.These properties usually have deferred maintenance,a bunch of drama,and high turnover.These types of tenants income is usually erradic working multiple jobs or pooling with other people with jobs combined to pay the rent.

In any event if I over estimated rehab, paid it on HUD and didn't use it I could request the residual from the title company whenever I wanted.  

The way that I invest is that I review all the downsides to an investment and in my current situation and five years down the road, is there enough mitigating factors to offset the risk, do I want to take on the residual risk, and is the potential return enough to take on remaining risk.Many investors loss a lot of money during the downturn, even in Southern California.

However, I will also be starting my own real estate company for a number of reasons.Once I get to the point that I have enough residual income that I can retire with, I plan on continuing doing home inspections.

Sometimes the number of successful years of investing is not as important as the number of deals that an individual has successfully completed and put a boat load of money in his pocket as well as still receiving residual income from his deals for years to come wouldn't you agree?

Smoking residue can sometimes be picked up this way, as well as in internal hallway ceilings (while you are testing the smoke detector of course).

There will be residual.  

When I was rehabbing multi-family we would trash any appliances that had the smoke residue on them.

If the company is older and hasn't adopted new technology, does little marketing, or has new pricing opportunity, then I could quickly add some value to that business.I am also a realtor and getting my license in FL, so residuals can come from buyers / sellers.

Stay away from companies that have IMPULSE selling and try to get you locked into residual contracts that are hard to get out of.The companies I use for services I do not work on long locked in contracts and pay monthly instead.