And as the buyer (my colleague) is now getting closer to closing it's starting to look like it might be worth just cleaning the place out and doing a very low cost rehab (paint, pressure wash and handyman repairs) for a quick sale.

It allows you to ease into being a landlord, gain experience managing tenants, do repairs and property maintenance without the pressure of a tight flip timeline and while you're getting comfortable as a landlord, you can gradually build your real estate team.

If it does what ours does then you can make a decision. our two houses are about 1.5mm together - maybe with a $2mm house you will have a little more responsible guests but I doubt it as there is always one person that screws it for everyone.fortunately for us, the dip in income didn't impact us because we bought with cash but if they have that pressure it may make a difference 

They are obviously feeling the pressure.

I cannot overstate the importance of finding a way to build a good rapport with your tenants as early on in the acquisition process as possible, as it will minimize or prevent countless headaches further down the road.When I took over my duplex with an inherited resident in one of the units, I had this conversation with the tenant prior to closing and found out that the toilet in their bathroom was clogging once or twice a week, and their shower head water pressure was super weak. 

Or at the very least some positive feedback/ vote of confidence because this road is extremely overwhelming and very pressured to quit or slow down.

It os a simple supply and demand of available labor.The ironic thing about all the lawsuits....its going to drive licensee counts down, which will put upward pressure on costs.

@Cherilyn Williams if you have a Class C rental, you will need to be more aggressive on putting pressure on tenants to pay to stay.I don't see anywhere in your posts that you automatically sent the tenants an eviction notice, did I miss that?

I do allow TVs to be mounted to the wall and just have the anchor holes filled in when they move out It really is just a personal preference and what you want to allow in your units.

Water pressure holds at the meter.