The builders basically throw veener stone and brick upfront to make look nice and put laminate and crap like that inside.

These guys sound like slumlord pieces of crap who's only profit margin is created by stiffing PM's, Contractors and anyone else they "do business with".

From what you have posted this isnt a demanding tenant issue... this is a "you didnt inspect the property very well and fix all the needed items BEFORE the tenant moved in" issueIf your PM is responsible for the post move out and pre-move in inspections, then they did a crap job.

Instead they like to hide behind their screen names like a bunch of children and post nonsense crap in response to deals and other postings.

This is the smart thing to do but I've been doing this 25 years and I'm tired of worrying about this crap when I'm off shore trying to catch flounder. 2. 

Find a good insurance person that specializes in what you're looking to do and have them look at deals before you buy them, it's a crap shoot right now. 40% isn't too crazy for the exp ratio without mortgage or replacement reserves, I definitely wouldn't go below that.

Now SD area isnt cheap so if you arent careful and have the right guidance you might end up buying a crap deal.

Inheriting tenants is always a crap shoot, sometimes they are great, other times not so much.

But over a long enough investing period the numbers should more or less balance themselves out and become fairly reliable.As Bruce pointed out, the alternative is to buy and remodel a piece of crap house. 

The unfinished, the boxes are crap but the frame and doors are decent quality.