A couple of weeks ago he went down for his grandmother's funeral, and came back with the rest of his family because it's about to descend into civil war.  

I heard that the waiting time for a court trial is 5-6 months and another 2 months for having the sheriff to remove the tenant (only one police office in the whole city of San Diego to execute the writ of possession now).

The city will condemn it with code enforcement and the police will move the people right out, immediately. 

Another thing to be mindful of if you use a bank/commercial lender is the pre-payment penalty many include in their loans if you choose to refinance (many have descending penalties in years 1-5 that can start upwards of 4-5%).

This was a new one for me so I replied: “Property rules are one thing, but If you truly fear for your safety, I would recommend calling the police department.

do you contact the police when you think your neighbor is doing something suspect? 

Going full bore on them will hurt their feelings and may cause them to move.2) Do NOT get involved in disagreements between tenants unless they are willing to file a police report or one of them violates their lease!

So, they should be able to provide proof of police report and acknowledgement letter from one of the credit bureaus.Cosigner: only idiots cosign and think it doesn't count against them.

Were there any complaints from neighbors or police?

Their "Selena" which is foreclosed by Arbor is in east houston near ship channel and definitely in "theHood", their "Sophia" is in Greenspoint aka "Guns-point" and you can't get food delivered there without a police escort.