Without evidence, it's hard to say.First, you should educate all of your tenants to report excessive noise to the police.

If you have evidence of the damage, it is unlikely the tenant will spend the time and money to take you to court.

This will show you more evidence of the fees they really charge.

Tenant also claimed possible mold, rotted subfloor etc, which Remediation said they found no evidence of.

While the property's location was desirable, it was evident that the house had been neglected for several years.

It sounds like the tenant has solid evidence their check or auto payment was received by the wrong party.  

The sale evidently resulted in Quest’s owners getting zippo (hearsay, working to confirm that). 

An LLC is potentially one minor factor that might contribute to the evidence that you are running your rental activity as a trade or business, but it's definitely not required that you have an LLC to qualify.

If they contest it, push back with the evidence.

The truly tragic natural disasters in California, North Carolina, Florida and others of the past six months are evidence that no location is truly 'climate safe,' however there are geographical areas that can expect less weather extremes and lower costs of living, developing, insuring and seemingly...surviving.