Gave the house a good going over from the outside, determined that short of being a wreck inside that this could be a slam dunk as a buy and hold rental.

To make the investment worthwhile, naturally I would look at some properties that need a little work, but not a total wreck.

they are going to go through some sort of learning curve.. some will be fine some will be train wrecks.

it's a lot of money and i won't let them get away with it --___--    plus i'm facing serious renovation cost after they moved out, the place was a total wreck :( any good advice or reference would be really appreciated.Side notes: I think the judicial system hate landlords with a passion, I can't understand for the life of me why i need to bring the tenant to court t a second time to ask the judge the same thing we took them to court at the first place, it's ridiculous and frustrating, the system allow people to get away with your money but you can't owe them a penny and this is ******** !!!!!

I put these up in all my rentals now since like you said tenants wreck them.  

So if they only held quality properties they would have done very well no matter the cycle but the marginal to losers were wrecking the returns on the overall portfolio.     

Constant repair calls on themBi-fold doors (half are garbage when a tenant leaves after a year)Sliding screen doors (tenants wreck these constantly)I rent my units 25-50 dollars less than market (hard to tell since I have mine in small rural towns). 

So many times I'm sent a deal to save and come up to a train wreck caused by some other Mortgage Broker or Lender LO who can't think outside the box and/or don't have the loan programs I can offerAnyway, often, the obvious and quick fix is for the seller to hold a purchase money 2nd mtg.If it's for a strong, good credit borrower and they are willing to pay Top Dollar for the property, why not offer the seller a 10% return on that small amount of money on a 30/60?

This specific home was built in 1887, in the city of chicago.I just pulled the permit history, the only permit issued it seems was for an “emergency wreck, and remove a 2 story frame residence.”

You should look into the Reno loans and consider buying a wrecked multifamily and rehabbing it.