Was he reluctant or all for it?

If one or all inherited tenants are on M2M, which is preferred, you will be in a much stronger position.

Sniping at us from 500 miles away with our helmets off due to privacy restrictions seems like a fairly inadequate approach to your frustrations with not maintaining policy compliance.

pets and off-lease move ins and trying to use the security deposit as last month's rent or inadequate notice.

You cannot really modify a contract orally, but you agreed to a one time waiver.  

Then, they finally call you because there are no more reserves left in your account, because they spent it all on "emergencies" that they didn't need to call you about because they were emergencies or all under $250 or whatever.And, you will have to manage the manager anyway, if you are smart.So, 1) manage it yourself.  

Forcing appreciation gives you some extra equity insulation from a drop in prices, or if you would rather be more aggressive it allows you the ability to cash out the extra equity via refinance or 1031 to redeploy it, but this also has added risks, there is no free lunch.Conservative financing, with lots of equity and cash flow margin for error, and cash reserves is another key ... in a downturn the quality of cash flow is every bit as important (I'd argue even more important) than the quantity ... what levels of margin are appropriate depends on the quality of the asset, which directly affects the quality and volatility of cash flows; a class B property will tend to have lower initial cash flow but more steady and increasing cash flow than a class C property ... judging adequate margins of safety is the really tricky part, because not only do you need to factor in quality as stated above but also what may be perfectly adequate in a "normal" market may be grossly inadequate in a downturn ... and yes, cash flow is affected in a downturn, it is not somehow magically immune; rents may not go down, but they very often do stop.

They rely on security deposit paying for in part or all damages and just think that the borderline DTI and all encompassing information about the tenant suffices what "they" think is a good tenant.

It's slower because you have to wait until the notice expires before filing to evict, which is 30 days (oral leases) or one month (written leases) in most jurisdictions.  

but 3 people & 1 bathroom seems inadequate.