I like going to open houses because, for instance, I walked into this particular open house and I could immediately tell what was going on with the house, and after a few questions with the selling agent, I really had a good picture of the situation (in that instance, the home wasn't old but had terrible paint colors and trim. 

Have them check the outside as well-are the gutters clean, any branches that need to be trimmed, etc.

If you offer the same as the competition, with ceilings, walls, and trim all one color; missing or torn screens and cracked or broken windows; non-functioning doors, windows, drawers, and other elements; very insecure; roach infested and just looking run down, you will get the same kind of tenants.

That was fine.If you're worried that the plaster doesn't go all the way down to the floor, that was normal in these walls, just as it's normal to leave a gap under drywall, and for the same moisture-based reasons.You're going to be fine once you install the new baseboard, but as you can see, trim carpentry is a lot more demanding on walls like these versus modern drywall.

The property was fairly turnkey but I am doing the normal stuff, repainting everything (walls, trim, cabinets, doors), new doorhandles, possibly replacing carpets in a couple rooms with lpv, light fixtures etc.

If they do poorly on the finishing work (trim, paint, caulking, etc.) then they probably did poorly on the major stuff. 

Here's the scope of work done:Bedrooms/Living room: Demoed out old carpet (did this ourselves), painted all walls and ceilings, and wood trim.

Trim the weakest assets and cash flows, extended out or refinance your debt beyond 5 year balloons, ask for 7 year balloons. 

Most are simple things like the banister mount broke or some floor trim came loose, that sort of thing.

If the CEO says they will have $x of EPS and the profit centers miss some tgts, its not hard to envision a situation where they look to trim costs, risk being an attractive area since humans tend to miss weight fat tailed risk, especially in light of quantifiable certainty. 2.