Requiring tenants to carry renters insurance with at least $100K in liability also helps minimize risk.

Any advice on some additional improvements that could be done to potentially fix this problem without having to buy a new water heater?

Someone contacted me about setting up a Wyoming Trust and said I was ask risk...."

Warning:If you depreciate a property down near zero and then have to sell your property at a loss during a situation of distress...You could end up giving all the proceeds to the bank AND owe the IRS a big chunk of money for recapture.Long-term tax planning with real estate needs to be coupled with risk management and making sure you don't lose any properties.

This lets your HSA grow, and since qualified withdrawals are tax-free, putting more aggressive investments in an HSA can pay off in the long run (similar to the “put your risk in Roth” idea).4.Rollovers & Debit CardsMost brokerage HSAs come with a debit card, so spending isn’t too hard if you ever need to.

I would be more concerned about the brother in law potentially moving out mid-lease and leaving the couple.

To be clear, the potential guest involved wanted to walk through the rental prior to booking it. 

In this economy, what should I be physically looking for in a potential investment property that is "promising" or "trendy" that would give me the most ROI?""

(FWIW,$8K on just the compressor seem excessive.)Otherwise, unless your contract with your GC says they will provide 24/7 surveillance, or you can prove the AC was never installed, you own the problem.If the property has been vacant for more than 30 days, most policies won't cover vandalism unless you have added a Builders Risk Addendum.

Most would think it insanely astronomical returns, and it is, but it's also exceptionally high risk.