I finally received a demand letter from a "nonprofit attorney" representing the tenant, claiming that the tenant was living in uninhabitable conditions—typical for a non-paying tenant, I guess—and now she wants to "renegotiate" the rent and keep living in the same space.She has been filing complaints with various government departments, but all the cases were minor and have been closed.

Since the weather is getting warmer, they would like to use their window air conditioning.The problem is that the window guards are not allowing the air conditioners to be installed.

If you have liquid reserves - say $10k +, and IF the property is in good, not average, not fair, but GOOD condition, and the property is not in a “war zone” and not in a declining area, and the property is not in a city where it is or can be subject to rent control, then you might have negotiated the deal most investors strive for but seldom achieve. 

A condition of my financing is to have plans available for an appraisal of the value after rehab, so I'm looking to get started on drawings as soon as possible.

However, you will not buy an “area average” property; you will buy a specific property in a specific condition.

Everyone talks about cashing out equity to buy more investments, but they fail to account for the cost of cashing that equity out, and they certainly don't mention the dangers of over-leverageing.It was hard to fail 5-10 years ago because the market conditions were ripe for investing.

@Austin JamesUnderstand the area, the current tenant base,the median income, is it in a flood zone, the age of the asset, the condition of the plumbing, the electrical wiring, the fuseboxes, the age of the roofs, the age of the mechanicals, the condition of the foundation, the drainage of the property, does the property have a C of O, is there ny environmental concerns such as oil tanks being buried, the current property management company, what are the amenities.These are just a few things to look out for.

My current home is in excellent condition and will sell rent very quickly.

They tend to prefer stuff in decent condition and in their buy box.

While you couldn't have used it for damages because you didn't know the move in condition, it would have covered the rent.