While I could see a dozen scenarios where this goes wrong, and zero where everyone is happy at the end, your GF and you by default, would be best served to offer them a ride to Garbage Grove, Anaslime, or the aforementioned Santa Ana.

BACKSTORY: I’m 26 years old and I have fond memories of riding my bike around this home and looking in the windows thinking about camping out in there when I was young.

If you gave someone a ride in your car and it broke down would you charge them???

The Landlord should never spend it or use it in any fashion.

Think of this as the time to ride with training wheels, learn the biz, find out what parts you like and what parts you loathe.

Both these sites are mobile friendly so you can knock out a few chapters of licensing education on a train ride, on a lunch break or anytime you have a spare 15 minutes. 

HUGE gains with no real work on the property.. they use it to hunt and fish and ride quads etc.. so personal enjoyment while those trees just keep growing.seems like a nice diversification to ones long term retirement strategy..  

The old fashioned way that we do it, we're buying homes for ~$2k, moving for $2k, putting $7k into them, and selling then for $300 a month over lot rent on a 5 year contract.

His/her “eye for fashion” is way off the mark.Recommendation: If this is a rental, and your market dictates perfection at every turn, obviously come to a resolution with the contractor to rip it out and replace it.

Depending on what state you invest in, it might be fine to give them a year lease in the normal fashion (as long as they won’t take 6 months to evict if they stop paying).