Rarely do we run into a situation where I must bill them for damages beyond their deposit.

No water damage.

You can not control every step a tenant takes, however, your bestvstrategy is to protect yourself by plugging in verbiage into your lease agreement that states that tenant is required to use the vent hood when cooking and failure to do so which causes damage such as smell in drywall, discooratiins, etc will result in thetenants security deposit being forefieted.

And with a good drain pan, when they eventually leak, you won't get a bunch of damage to the home.

Might I suggest buying a water damaged house for $30K, fixing it up, and renting it out.

Gives a lot more perspective into the damage and the impact on everyone's lives...

@Chris Carson I believe 06, 08, 09 for investors is to fix those properties up so it can get approve for section 8 vouchers only and if they do damage your place they can jeopardize loosing their voucher.

That leaves you exposed on any damages that may have occurred. 

This is a business of fixing up homes, renting them out, evictions and damages, and then doing it all over again.  

The down side would be the same as any bank the buyer could end up not paying and you would have to foreclose on him and they could damage the property out of anger/spite.