The student housing community I worked for required all tenants to have a minimum of 100K liability and you'd be surprised at how many times we had to use their policy for some sort of damage to the property (i.e. flooding, fires, etc.).As far as rent payments, I would recommend using Venmo.

The security deposit is for damages to the property or outstanding balances.

Due to water damage, we scheduled contractors to come out and fix the carpet and whatnot.

He’s been earning on it for 10 years and maybe he thinks he still can, but there was already a serious water damage issue due to the property sitting 10 feet below street level and water building up every time it rains.

Its possible that damage was done , but someone would have to been rather careless .

This would be considerably cheaper but contractors said it is the removal of the driveway that will damage the tree.

I would never "gut" a house unless it had an issue requiring it (water and mold, smoke damage, termite damage, etc)We usually will "fix" something instead of replacing it if we can. ie, a door with damage gets wood putty or sheetrock mud and then a repaint.It's always a balancing act to put a property in market condition and still have the margin  for adequate cash flow.

I hope I don't need to pay taxes until I "recover" my initial investment cost (that was 115K) or basis.I am planning to talk to title company and probably lending attorney to "minimize the damage".What is the closing costs for seller financing deal in comparison with conventional buy/sell transaction?

They mentioned to us about roof damage and reminded us about the shingles that flew off during Hurricane Irma.

Who is responsible for damage caused by the tree?