The Holidays is a bit of a down time so if you want to get in now is a good time!

Also, might be to early to tell as you may not know for weeks/months/years.I didn't read the messed up your house, made it worse, left a giant mess, were rude to the tenants (to you yes) etc....I assume this work comes with a warranty?  

Hosting a yearly summer BBQ and holiday party could be a great way to accomplish this without getting into the weeds of legal factors of gifting rent at the end of the year.

You can send thank you cards and tip during the holidays to demonstrate that you value the relationship, etc. 

Since we are getting so close to Thanksgiving and the Holidays/winter it will be more difficult to find a tenant.Since the tenant will be on a month to month it gives you a lot more flexibility to decide when they need to leave - see my recent response to the post “Mostly Month to Month Tenants in Multifamily - Big Red Flag?”.

The realtor and I did business years ago, and we kept in contact over the years, holidays, birthdays etc, so naturally when I mentioned I was in real estate investing, there was years of established rapport and trust. 

Winter time it tends to ease up since it's cold and the Holiday's

If you just decorate for the holidays for guests, then no.IRS publication 527 should answer all your questions - https://www.irs.gov/publicatio...This is how I understand things, but I would work with a CPA on all this.

If they don't review after that, I give a day or two (depending if there's a holiday, weekend, etc.) and then I review them to give another prompt.

Alot of folks by years end are burnt out and well they take the holidays off..