Account Closedi am happy to share some perspective.  

Alec,From an Insurance perspective, ask the current owner to get from their agent "Loss Runs" for the past 5 years.  

Personally, I would give them notice of termination and start fresh with a new renter that I've personally selected, using my lease, at my rent rate.

I do understand everyone's perspective.

I always issue the notice to pay or quit (called various things, thats what it is here) the first day that rent is late, just to start the process in case they don't pay, so you can get them out as quickly as possible and start fresh.

For perspective, the house directly next to this house is estimated at over $900k fully updated with slightly higher square footage, but 1 less bedroom.

Pain points that I'm not yet aware of in this space, that I can potentially approach differently/with a new perspective.

You can probably make it work, but need pretty active management and long term perspective on it and you should weigh if it's worth your time and effort. 

I would like to hear other's perspective on this topic.

What will matter from an IRS perspective is when the burdens / benefits of ownership have actually been transferred.