I know nails and screw holes is part of normal wear and tear.

@Alan HaleCan’t answer number 2 but financing has nothing to do with your profit I’m it doesn’t matter what you buy whether a car, home or pack of toothpicks, your profit is what you paid for it minus your costs/expensesWhere financing does come into play is it is a cost as money is not free - but it’s only what you have paid for that financing.Hope that makes sense

Does that sound normal to you?

Often the inspections are very picky and they happen every 12 months so although section 8 tenants normally stay longer then market tenants it sometimes feels like a built in vacancy of 1 month every time they do the annual inspection depending on how much your contractor charges. 

I am also an agent and that area is not my normal service area.

I look at the vehicles, are they 20 year old economy cars on their last legs, or are they newer vehicles that people are making payments on at a legitimate car dealership vs a buy and pay here joint.

Should I deduct the cost from their security deposit or is it considered normal wear and tear?

The normalizing market is just starting to show some of the operational issues many investors will soon be faced with. 

@Chris Grenzig We do own one duplex but our focus is on STR now so we normally only attend STR-focused meetups. 

Meaning, a normal Hard Money Loan will lend 70%-75% of the ARV....which is more than enough to purchase this property AND rehab it with $0 out of pocket.