Insurance doesn't cover anything anymore and we can almost just pay for all damages with the money we spend on it! 

And how much did you spend in the rehab?

Spend your time and money learning how to avoid that kind of situation rather than learning from on the job training.

I spend roughly $120k on my renovations, but this is for the entire property and developing the secondary suite which certainly costs more (2 new furnaces, all new plumbing, new kitchens and bathrooms with tiled floors and showers).All said and done, I personally love it.

Spend a year learning and going to meetups before you fork over a $50-$100k franchise fee and half of your profits and don't even know what you are doing.

If your time is worth $500 an hour I would spend the 5k on 10 hours of searching for a free mentor.

@Chris Lin,Thank you very much for spending time with me on the phone last night. 

Or, ya know, just spend the next 140 hours trying to get a self-study law education followed by another few hundred hours self-study to sort out how to avoid repeating the situation.That's the reality of it all. 

Thank you all who responded, I plan on spending some time driving the neighborhood and talking to anyone at the local coffee shop who will talk to me. 

Most can't even conceive how they will ever have just $200,000 sitting around in liquid cash to spend.