You're the same guy who would (admittedly) steal a deal from someone else, so please spare me the superior ethics routine.

- a nice round figure that seemingly would cover routine damage (e.g. $500)?

She was uncomfortable with the fact that I had gotten her number from public records.

Claim the routine cleaning was not done according to the warranty instructions.Most companies have a foot note that says “lifetime” = 50 years.

@Mel Griffin  the Old Joe Kaiser hooked on Overages  routine... counties are really cracking down on that activity.

If you don't want to or feel uncomfortable with give a number for repairs, at least come up with a list of everything that you think needs updating and repaired.

Try living in upstate NY where property taxes on a $100,000 house are routinely $3,000 (town, county & school).I'm headed to the assessor's office next week to try to work out an agreement for a drastically lower assessment on my primary residence that I bought in July.

Even if I had room, I'd be uncomfortable putting in a hot plate because people on vacation are easily distracted and I don't want them burning my house down.I'm in NYC, hosts in other areas focus on different amenities/ markets. 

Over the life time of ownership, between interest, taxes, insurance, maintenance, routine upkeep etc, the home will cost more than it will ever be worth during a individual life time. 

But I'm not single anymore, I have fixed overhead (kids and a mortgage), and the consequences of large losses would make my family life more uncomfortable than we'd like.