To me a letter that the tenant fixes it would only be ok if they had xyz garage door repair specified because that vendor won't cut corners at tenant request.

And cut spending where I can!

Time.Any time a tenant cuts off communication, you should treat them as hostile. 

The one warning that I would provide is that it is death by a thousand cuts getting a property to market.

This increase is again primarily fueled by a greater availability of smaller and more affordable homes in the South.The total number of homes for sale, including homes that were under contract but not yet sold, increased by 20.9% compared with last year, growing on an annual basis for the sixth month in a row.The number of homes under contract but not yet sold (pending listings) increased by 2.7%, which is lower than last month’s 6.3% growth rate.

They will definitely help cut your learning curve dramatically and help point you in the right direction as far as which neighborhoods to target and which ones to stay away from.  

The house looked vacant and the lawn looks like it hadn’t been cut in years.

Learn how to budget, cut your expenses, and save.

If its in the city where off street parking is a huge perk and it has a legal curb cut then I would keep the garage in most cases. 

One of my properties the city condemned it and had the lady removed before I bought it, and it was so full of roaches they had to tent the entire house and cut away the bottom third of drywall from rot and mold.