Worse case is I do not learn anything, wasted 72hours and just walk away with the knowledge to know better in future.

Stop hanging out with your deadbeat buddies who spend all day drinking, talking sports, and otherwise wasting away.

When we have proof from them that they moved out - the text they sent - we do not proceed with eviction as it would be a waste of money.

Landlords in illinois for sfh rentals don't provide snow removal or lawn cutting so thats not an issue.   

In response, I had a plumber and a water restoration company come to assess the situation.The restoration company cut into the drywall, and the plumber thoroughly inspected all the pipes, performed a leak test, and conducted a pressure test.

If she pays, then your really out of luck and you have to sue her in court for breaking the lease and damages.In general, I don't take people to court once I have the property back as the attorney fees and the fact you RARELY collect on any judgements (15% of the time or less) eats any profit and wastes your time.

And obviously yoru cpa would have told you to NEVER use a cost seg to make yoru income zero, that would be a waste.  

@Jason Stofer if you don't have a support structure to tap into... the unhappy answer is that there is no short cut. 

If you thinking there is some "giant" "fat" to cut out of Real Estate transactions I'm sorry it just is not true.

"Not satisfied," isn't going to cut it.