The friendly landlord laws, typically lower tax burden, and population/job growth have made the SE a great place to park assets. 

We've worked with hundreds of contractors in Atlanta metro and dozens of HML in the SE market.

There is no reason for them to just forgive anything, but it would potentially in their best interests to accept a chunk of money from the owner and possibly do a friendly foreclosure (hand them the keys per se).

I do a fair amount of financial consulting; I formerly was a Series 7 registered representative.We see ourselves as asset fiduciaries more than property managers per se; I don’t need to make a killing off my clients.  

Hi Marcus,There are many ways to skin a cat per se lolPersonally, I'd rather have volume and 10 "in da hood" where the numbers don't lie and where I know what I'm doing.Then buying using a tonne of leverage and hoping the market will appreciate."

Irrational to treat them as per se different. 

The move-in fee isn't per se solely for damages after a tenant moves out...so if there are some damages and they are willing to pay because you set that expectation that's a good thing! 

Edna~ I know you are looking to invest in cities closest to the Canadian border, however, I would encourage you to cast a wider net as you can find some excellent cash-flowing properties throughout the SE USA. 

I'm not aware of any law in general that makes it per se illegal in California to use RUBS. 

You can also use a bank statement loan or SE program to use gross deposits versus taxes that have deductions.