I have a reputation.

Our lease has a clause that makes the tenant responsible to report leaks and defects and is responsible for any consequential damages that arise from a failure or delay in reporting.

Many property owners choose to hire management firms to handle the logistics of renting out their properties, especially if they do not live nearby or prefer not to manage the rental process themselves.Here's how it can work:Hire a Property Management Firm: You can contract a reputable property management firm that specializes in managing rental properties.

If you use a properly vetted, reputable and experienced GC, statistically it seems less likely there will be issues compared to a fact pattern where  you self manage  the work as a first timer.

Or, you could also pull a list of pre-foreclosures, skip-trace, contact sellers and see if you could help them get out of the house with less damage and loss than if their house went through foreclosure. 

@Rachel Jones copy & paste from our site:A bad tenant can lead to thousands of dollars of losses via unpaid rents, legal fees and property damages.

I am in the raleigh north carolina area and was curious to know if there are any highly reputable attorneys and/or agents familiar with short sales.

I've used Airbnb and they have reimbursed me for repairs when a guest does damages, but they take a lot of time and the reimbursement is not always what I expected.

Any tips you have when dealing with a tenant who consistently breaks lease, lies about property damage / repairs needed, does things like keep the heat off in the winter when shes closed for the one day a week.

If not, or if this is a first time occurrence, I'd start with gathering any tangible proof that the damages are a result of the other landlord or tenant ie; video camera, pictures and suggest to the tenant that they seek a resolution based on the evidence.