The HOA decided to hire a water mitigation or cleaning company that basically went to all the homes affected and cleaned up.

It also keeps the outside clean and keeps tenants from adding "yard art" to your rental. 

In my office, we provide a scanned copy of every invoice charged to a rental, even when it's paid by the tenant (e.g. turnover carpet cleaning).

If you're managing the rental yourself, you'll need to have a plan for handling maintenance, cleaning, and guest communication.

My husband and I owned and operated a Room and Board in CA where we housed 10 individuals who just got out of the jailing system or trying to get clean off of drugs.

I put lipstick on a pig , Made it clean , neat and livable .

I'm assuming for the water damage, something spilled and they didn't mop it up or they had the dogs water bowl on the floor and water go onto the floor and wasn't cleaned up-if either of those are the case, then I'd explain that to them.If the floor is damaged and eventually needs to be replaced, I would not replace it if they are going to stay there. 

Easier to clean, don't hold odor, and they hold up better.

If you already have your financial system in place, then I would guess the bookkeeper would only need to do some minor clean up and there be no set up involved.

Hey @Tom Pubins - I would highly suggest using www.hemlane.com they syndicate to many different sites and have a very clean platform to manage tenant screening.