For holes in the wall (one had a large round cut out), was that the tenant's doing? 

R2R I initially had great opinions of but the buyers the work with have a lot of issues. we had a new build in contract all the way to the end in newark ohio where intel is going in for the bottom 2% of new builds in our market at 200k buyers flaked last day and they threatened to not work with us just to give the earnest money back. we build homes in partnerships so my hands are tied but from that as well as the really bad florida issues over in Lehigh acres with rent to retirement of homes not getting built I'd recommend investors bypass and save the money. they take 15k per house that we sell almost 10% more than any realtor ever takes. we did all the work, met with buyers the whole time talked every week. find your own builders direct and bypass all the fees and save money.

But for any country watching this, they can see that at any time, the US can cut them off financially, using the dollar.

So if you have $150,000 to invest you can make $9,000 annually.Most people will never retire from owning Real Estate unless they substantially cut their cost of living. 

He did OK, but it was tying at times because he is my son (he gets away with stuff that my past protégés would have never done).  

I fully expect several months until I see any return especially in this market, so I'm not afraid to tie up cash in that way.

Dont cut corners just because they're only staying for 2-3 months

I currently own 4 units in 8 unit complex and i had to pay from my own pocket for cutting down trees because hoa has no money and the other units members dont' want to pitch and could care less also they dont' maintain there budlings which makes the complex look bit down. 

With the outlook for cutting rates by the fed looking like it will be a very slow trickle, I believe we are in the early-mid stages of a recession.

If the deals locally don't work no matter how you cut it then look at investing out of state