Have you spoken to local fire officials who would burn it down for you as part of training. we were able to do this once where we coordinated wiht local fire department and they burned it down for us and took care of it as part of their training. 

I am orginally from Elgin, but living down in Logan Square area of Chicago proper!

I would advise running your rents conservatively and vet property managers properly before signing anything.

One of the biggest challenges of investing in Rustbelt cities is knowing where to invest and properly understanding the cooresponding pros & cons.Here's copy & paste advice we share to help to address this challenge:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

The thing I'm trying to figure out is how to properly qualify as a RE Prof. 

Properly maintains/doesn't damage the property.3.

I recommend that you engage with a real estate accountant to ensure you set everything up properly. 

Take ownership of your mistake and learn to do the proper due diligence recommended above😊

It's properly leveraging (not over leveraging) the asset that pays off.  

You might also want to look into supplemental insurance for future stays, like Proper Insurance or Safely, to cover situations where Airbnb’s support falls short.I'd be happy to help more.