What I'm planning: buy and hold the property, brush and clean it up with intent to hold until cost of funds drops a little in 4-6 months.

In addition, I am considering changing my furnaces/boilers to have plug-in cords instead of being hard wired so that if there is a power outage in winter that I could power that heating system with a portable power station.

This collaboration could be a powerful learning experience and a stepping stone to success.

I did a check on a guy 10 years ago came up clean as a whistle on my landlord association screening service.

I am assuming in this that normal cleaning was done pre-occupancy and they are excessive in their expectations.

I would assume the purchase contract has a clause that states title is clean and there no encroachments.

I too live in Marin, and feel it is a solid long term market for apprecaition, and utilizing the power of principle reduction.When it comes to refinancing, figure out what the loan costs will be, then divide that buy the monthly savings with the new loan in order to determine how long you have to maintain that loan to break even. 

Sounds like you are already on the path to being an out of state investor and with the right team that can be powerful.  

Then when the tenants moves out, you can assess if there's any damages or cleaning.

Final thoughtsSo its been a journey, I am contemplating going full-time in entrepreneurship as this is my second successful business, my end goal in life is to have the option to retire by 35 haha so I want to do everything in my power now for future me.