I am thinking that 12 months worth of pet rent will equal about the same as a deposit, and with pet rent, I would keep it no matter if there is damage or not, but with a deposit, I would only be able to keep it if there is damage.

Not all property managers are equal.

I told them that this had nothing to do with my tenant and the HOA has to either split the cost between all the houses under management equally, or charge the guilty party, or pay from their insurance.

Partnerships equal  rocketships.

Two events must happen for this to work:1 - The accumulated CF must equal the DP,...which means the property is now basically free since the recovery of the DP returns all of the cost to the REI. 

I would rather have 1 door that yields 50% then 100 doors yielding 3% (assuming total capital invested is equal).

And investing in really any form is a degree of speculation, let's not act like some real estate investments are a given.If you don't think rent is going up, or you think it will stand still that's an equal level of speculation.

FHA 3-4 units has a self-sufficiency test which can be difficult to pass in higher priced markets where the rent from the other units needs to be greater than or equal to your total housing payment. 

@Kyle FronckowiakWeight the vacancy loss of raising the rent 800 per month with the time it would take to get a new equally as good tenant. 

I’d look more at the properties long term potential, without knowing anything about the la market or this property, I wouldn’t trade all thing equal a property in la for a bunch of row homes in west Baltimore for instance, however I’d trade just for example a property in a rough part of la for a property in Montgomery county Md.