Title company went after the crook and cleaned up my  title. 

Quote from @Adriana Medina: I told the prospective tenant I was going to complete a background check and she said it should be clean. 

Handing it over to a professional PM makes for a clean break, but you may be better off hiring a part-time assistant.

You can point out spots like nail holes where they hung pictures, dirty spots in the apartment needing cleaning, blown outlets they are overusing, etc.

What am I missing (besides in some instances you have a lower interest rate but do not get clean title to a property)?

I would also send the insurance company this same letter and tell them they are going to be responsible for the cleaning and repair cost.

But it turned out, it was his roommate (who moved in without telling me, but turned out to be a good tenant) that was doing the cleaning up.

Other potential bird dogs are handymen, people who clean out houses, and various house related contractors.To Your Success! 

Or providing substantial services in conjunction with rental activities can subject to SE tax (hotel like services...room service, daily cleaning, meals, free shuttles etc).Being a REP just defaults the classification of the rentals from passive to non-passive. 

I wouldn’t purchase anything out of state without first getting a thorough inspection, establishing a trusted team on the ground, and having a solid exit strategy in case things don’t go as planned.