I’ll be very upfront and honest- I have about $20,000 saved for a down-payment/closing costs.

. - I have an STR here in Chicago and the only reason I keep the STR is because I have been grandfathered in since it's been over 5 years.In all honesty, you are better off doing a long term rental then trying to mess with a short term property in Chicago these days. 

i find ones who honest up front and honesty is confirmed by paperwork ate usually pay rent consistently  but anyone on taxpayer funded a long time or who have been evicted prior are more "dangerous" more likely not pay rent  than any felon.3. 

And whether they find all of these little issues or not, it will still result in thousands of professional fees and many hours of your time to deal with it.Then you need to look at the other side, if you are mis-stating your tax returns, you will also end up providing bogus numbers to banks (also not a good one to lie to), potential investors, potential buyers, impacting the value of your properties by over stating your expenses...Honesty is a great policy. 

@Taz Zettergren to be honest, I too like the Little Rock suburbs more than the B-ham area.I have been more active though in Bham because I really found a great team of agent/PM/Lender in that area and I feel confident in their ability to get me a good deal.Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find an agent/broker in the LR area that gives me that same vibe. 

What's the point in trying to invest remotely in markets where the numbers aren't THAT different and you have to rely on the honesty and kindness of strangers? 

To be honest, I think we may just need to bear the costs and learn from this and do regular unit checks going forward (which was not done by the previous property management company). 

In all honesty I am hoping tenant gets accepted before trial date.

I find that you can get private lenders or Joint Ventures easily and scale using those connections  To be honest, I have not.

If tenant is typical without a lot of money, and being honest, I would reach a reasonable settlement and not add misery to their life.