Given all the crap I'd have to deal with, they should be paying 10%-20% more.

I don't think so, I'm beginning to think people read guru crap and just assume it's all good, WOW!  

Their actual paint is crap though. 

Hard to give advice without seeing it, but if you get the water draining away from the house and dig down and tar the crap out of the foundation you should be able to stop the entry. 

I started out not knowing  crap about real estate but had the drive to make money at it, so i went and got my license(actually i just passed the test a week ago, i'm waiting on my license to come), learned a lot by studying the Principals and Law course i took, i'm not saying i know a lot about real estate but a lot more than before i took the State Exam, it's worth it in my opinion.Let me know if you want to get the license i will be happy to show you the websites i used to help study for it!

An REO listing agent hears this crap, and better offers, all the time.  

Crap I need to shut up, I hate tough competition:(

There are pockets of greatness with large areas of crap. 

Guru crap does not fly in commercial real estate, it takes the average high school type to go into residential for a few years, at least 3 to 5, to begin in commercial and another 3 years to get into some niche of commercial.

The quality stuff is produced abroad and over a longer period of time quality will beat crap.