If it has any basis at all (such as you left the apartment during your lease term for what you felt was a justifiable reason and stopped paying rent, but the landlord disagreed) then you may be better off paying a rather small settlement.  

Consider this, as an “experiment”, 24 months ago I invested $300,000 in equal amounts ($30,000 in each) in 10 speculative small REITs.  

The 5-10 it gets heavier and a lot busier, and 10-15-20 it really is untenable to self-manage especially if this is not you main business like a person buying their own rentals and building it like a small business. 

Quote from @Michael Belz: I was impressed by your blog post discussing the success of small cash-flowing real estate deals in Detroit, particularly with smaller houses.

Look into asset classes with stronger cash flow, such as small multifamily properties, short-term rentals, or mobile home parks.

They would be very small, approximatley 300 sf. 

Processing fee is very small and you usually can get funds in 3-5 days!

It is hard work but a small team can build them pretty quick.

Hoping to go down one of two paths:1- Buy a condo or small single family home and build equity and create value with my maintenance/construction background.2- Find a cash provider to do this on a larger scale with a 3-5 unit building. 

Our buy [box] is small but dang it's tough out there.