Another time, different house, the neighbor listed the house I had for sale as an AIrBNB and put the electric & water in his name and put some furniture in.

He was hoping that the sale of his house would allow him to pay off his previous mortgage, pay back his parents, with some left over for new furniture.* What I am is asking is if there is a creative solution to his problem.** And lastly, I don't want to sound greedy, but I am in need of some additional funds for my own REI projects... and wouldn't mind getting some kind of compensation in there as well.Please let me know if there is any additional information needed!!!

Don't sit on his furniture...skip shaking hands. 

Would you just price out the furniture and have it ready to buy and if you have a resident interested and signs a lease for a furnished apartment, go buy the furniture? 

This is what I use in all my properties, once their staged and on the market (don't want anyone stealing the furniture):http://lasershield.net/There's no reason you couldn't use it in your properties from the time you take possession.You don't need a phone line...they have a wireless interface that will call you if there is a break-in, and if you don't respond (or don't want to disable the alarm when it calls you), their monitoring center will notify the police.Luckily, I've never had a real alarm, but the couple times an agent has entered a house without calling ahead, I got proof that this system works just as expected.

Floors may show some serious wear once the furniture is out and that might require them to be replaced or refinished.If the appliances are old you might consider replacing those with a set of new, matching ones.What's it like outside?

It was rent ready and came with the furniture.

One option you can attempt to recoup some cost is to sell the furniture you used to stage the property.

He helped them pack, move their furniture and delivered it all to their next place.  

We are really struggling with finding flooring and furniture colors that look nice and don’t clash.