Now, I don’t know Cleveland or your area, but Malcom Gladwell wrote a bit on tipping points where an example was NYC cleaning up grafitti and trash to lower crime.

For my part, i let the hot summer day passs and call in for a moisture cleaning for 640sqft on surface between the roof and cost me about 2700$ but  that was the only major concerne for a  1970 bungalow.i would pull the plug depending at your lvl  of repair skill 

Clean house and start fresh.

New Bedford has done a nice job cleaning up the waterfront too.Just FYI - you mentioned 3.5% down. 

Clean the place up and start fresh with a tenant that is properly screened, paying market rent, and respecting your authority as the owner.Another thought: you may want to consider a property manager.

So while the process of issuing a note is very "clean" on paper, it might get messy in the real world.I just bought a nice single family in a top suburban neighborhood and rented it out to the retireing baby boomers with 200k income for top dollar.

@Richard G.Neither.Being an agent doesn't teach you how to be an investor.Property managers deal mostly with clogged toilets and dryer vent cleanings.

Another thing is cleaning the ducts is about another 400 for us.

But hey its a strong incentive to keep it clean.  

We had it cleaned by a cleaning crew and had the carpet professionally cleaned (same people we used right before they moved in) We withheld the cleaning fees and the unpaid water bills from the deposit which totalled to about 500 (the water bill alone was over 200).