In our trade, I would not expect any owner or GC to get this correct since our industry is extremely specialized.

I personally HATE maintenance, so i find jazzy ways to "trade" that with tenant.

If for some reason I need to return security deposit at a different time I'll either take the 3mo interest from their security deposit, or I'll do a trade from my reserves. 

At my point in life everything I own is both a cash flow superstar and appreciating nicely, because I'm invested in growing, popular areas.If I was just starting off now, I'd probably be aiming for value-add in good areas where I could either live there while improving the unit(s) - ie a duplex, triplex - or where I could trade sweat equity for profit, or both.

Be sure to utilize tools of the trade for the best information.

To sacrifice a good tenant, which is hard to come by these days in favor of higher rent, may not be the trade-off that you need or possibly want.

Just looking to trade advice.

I'm not much for listening to politicians blather, I look for action and results. 

We took the reverse action and started lowering asking rents until they moved.I suspect the reason that one property of yours turned quickly is because your asking rent was very favorable vs. local competition. 

At some point you have to make the actionable plan.