If I get a new home at 6-7%, to get to the same size of a home, same age, same size yard, everything, that is a $1.3-$1.4M home, which is incredibly expensive. 

They applied first.For single woman, she a tiny thing and there is some yard maintenance required.

Saw a house with a For Sale by Owner sign in a yard with tall grass and after some drama, we have a house.We have dealt with long term rentals for over 15 years, but not aggressively ( keep them rented and do some improvements ).This "old house" needs, updated HVAC, new roof, new kitchen, some broken windows, upgraded electrical, water run off issues...I'm just starting to clear the house out with multiple dumpsters and starting to get quotes.  

While Listing Brokers do get a higher number of bids awarded(They have a sign in the yard so this is to be expected) my research indicated they do not get a higher percentage of the manually accepted bids. 

For example, many pet owners allow their pet to run in a fenced yard or on a chain unattended.

Is any of it salvageable?

I still self-manage because mine are in my back yard, but I have shopped around a bit.A common mark-up for scheduling and over-seeing the work is 10%.  

I don't know if the situation with the "nasty" tenant is salvageable or if there is any legitimate basis for their treatment of you and your staff. 

The AC question with Mini Split units is that they have to have an outside drain. lots of rooms without windows or office buildings do not have a place for a drain outside in a yard and people install without which leads to a problem with dripping water.

There's not much room in the yard to build an ADU so I'm unlikely to do that.