I'm sorry to hear of the drama you are going through and I know you've got a potentially long and frustrating road ahead of you.In general, the least expensive route here is going to be coming to terms with the dirtbag CONtractor and moving on. 

Yes you get your rent every month, but a large percentage of the tenants are hard on the home and because they have nothing but time on their hands, they have a lot of drama that is not fun to deal with.You could keep 90% occupancy/paying tenants, but that will depend on the upkeep on the property.We disagree with Paul about out-of-state investors not being able to be profitable in Detroit.

I factor this in when I am so excited to buy a property with this "low prices", real estate investors especially the newbies should have a strong financial position before jumping into leverage, have a good solid plan given the harsh macro economic condition.

This method tends to set a landlord up for avoidable drama, inconvenience, trouble, and bad first impressions to the new tenants.

I am a total novice in this game, so I need to hear some harsh realities. 

@Ned CareyHow do you deal with drama when the tenant claims that the check is in the mail, but you don't see it yet?

@Craig His Kansas City is a wonderful place, you do know the winters can be harsh?

btw: I re-read what I wrote and it seems to have a harsh tone.  

That was an especially harsh review.  

It's expensive, but it's a non-negotiable in my eyes... just because if you do a %, there will be drama about the meter not being correct, or if you do a set rate, they'll feel screwed when not using it a lot, and probably purposely use more!