Therefore, you need a CONSISTENT 5% return so your funds will never be depleted.

She didn't do anything malicious to the property when she left ,  in fact she cleaned it before leaving but there were some breakages.Then we found we weren't getting interest at that rent with just the basic cleanup so we made some unplanned upgrades and the new tenant insisted on a washer/dryer before signing. 

They would like to know if they could have a 5-day extension in the event that the closing gets pushed so they will have time to pack up, clean up, and move out.

The neighbor didn't mind as long as I clean up any mess he left.  

Having a cleaning crew would definitely eat into your returns, but would also get the tenants into the habit of expecting you to clean up after them. 

He doesn't really have many other options except to sell, or to clean up and get it rented out again.

ThanksJared I can't help but wonder, are we depreciating the trees (like a building), or depleting them (like oil or other natural resources)? 

I try to give them the opportunity to clean up if they know that there are issues(like your oven) that they can fix before I come by. 

I have found that humanizing the checkout procedure is less irritating to those guests who believe they should not have to clean up after themselves.

If you buy a $20k house in the midwest and if your house burns now, I wonder how much you can sell the land for...In the south, outside of the big and second tier metro areas, assuming a person is willing to rebuild on the lot the land is worth the sum of: cost of well and septic and site improvements (driveway, foundation, etc.) plus the value of 'change of use'  minus the cost of 'recovery' (demolition and cleanup.)